Arjay Smith :: General Info :: Biography :: TV Cast/Crew Credits

Arjay Smith was born November 27, 1983 in Los Angeles, Ca. He comes from a family of four with him being the only boy in the family. The others are all half sisters. At four years old, he was in pageants until fear finally caused his mother to take him out of them. He got the acting bug when he saw Home Alone. He formed a dance troupe in elementary school along with playing soccer and being in the school band. When he entered the fifth grade his television acting career got started.

Arjay Facts

Stands 5’10 Very religious

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan
Owns a large collection of Ninja Turtle figures

Wanted to be a Ninja Turtle while in the 6th grade

Known to dance goofy during film breaks

Stage Work

The Chocolate Nutcracker as a member of the Culture Show Dance Troupe in LA

Print Media

1996 Children’s Ministry News advisor

Music Videos
Michael Jackson’s Childhood
Michael Bolton’s Completely

Soul Asylum’s Runaway Train

Stevie Wonder‘s For Your Love

Commercials

Shaq commercial for Nestle Crunch
Best Buy Commercial in 2002

Star Wars Battle Front Video Game Commercial in 2004

Dr. Pepper Commercial in 2005

Television

He first appeared on television on ABC’s Step by Step as Nelson in the 1995 episode “Three Girls & A Baby”. His next role was on Mad TV as Troy, who played the son of one of Phil Lamar’s characters. This would make sense since they could past off as either father and son or brothers. His final guest role before starring in a regular series was on ER in the episode “When the bough breaks” as Brian. This wouldn’t be the last time he would play someone named Brian.
His first regular series role was the talented yet shy artist Jared on the WB (now CW) Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher in 1996. He was in the sixth grade like Jared and could easily relate to his character since they both mirrored each other. His character along with the other children from season one were written out as the WB wanted to cater to the teenager demographic for the show (the series was cancelled after the second season).

His second regular series was The Journey of Allen Strange. He played the lead of Allen Strange, an alien that gets left behind on Earth and take in by a family. The series sparked a little controversy as people wondered why Allen Strange would chose to be a black kid living with a white family. It should be noted that Allen Strange was originally conceived as a white boy until series creator Thomas Lynch (Kids Inc. among others) chose Arjay over others. Arjay had studied Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation to get ideas on how to play Allen. Since Data was an alien of sorts trying to fit in with human (among other races) on the series. He even credits Jeff Bridges role in the movie Starman for ideas as well. When he did the auditions he played Allen like a robot and won the role.

While playing this role, Arjay’s public school career came to an end. His parents enrolled him in Laurel Springs. "I would recommend this program to anyone. It allowed me to become independent and to pursue my career." Arjay Smith. Allen Strange lasted three seasons and established Arjay as the geeky yet loveable kid on television as his next roles proved.

His next role was Richard in the 2000 Drew Carey Show episode-“Drew Can’t Carry A Tune.” This marked his first guest role in a series in three years. Next came the role that people remember him from if they never saw Allen Strange.

He played Cadet Finley on Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle for the show’s first season. In 2001 came a cameo on NBC’s West Wing before a minor role on Life Time’s Strong Medicine. He played Kyle in the episode “Bloodwork.” He had another role on NYPD Blue in the episode “Everyone Into the Poole” as Anthony Woodside.

In 2002 he took a break from acting to appear in an episode of Bernie Mac Showas Kevin in the episode Stop Having Sex. Arjay is also notorious for putting his family, his faith and being a teenager before acting.

In 2003 he got the role of Gabriel on the episode Ye Olde Dating Game on That’s So Raven. (If you look at Raven’s locker, you see tons of photos from Arjay’s previous series.) He appeared in the pilot of Like Family as Brad. He did another guest stint on Boston Public as Taylor Graham in episode Chapter 72. The one role in 2003 that had got people demanding that he receive more acting roles was the role of Mickey Economics in the NYPD Blue episode “Frickin’ Fraker.” His character was a foster boy that was molested by an adult and got in trouble with the police for touching another child. As one reviewer of the episode put it-he played the role so honestly that you felt Mickey’s pain and suffering.

In 2004 he returned to Bernie Mac Show as Reggie in the episode Love Bug. Once again he played a character that he was familiar with and even saw a little of himself in Jeremy Suarez’s character of Jordan. In the episode The Badlands on CBS’s Cold Case featured a first for him. He played Derek Lincoln, who was trying to get his life together while his brother was in the army. Sadly that brother killed Derek when he wouldn’t do what he was told during a failed robbery of the people that took them both in. This was the first character Arjay played that was killed.

In 2005 he played Speed in the episode “Battle of the Hexes” on the WB’s Charmed. Interesting enough Charmed aired in the timeslot that Nick Freno once aired. He had a cameo on the WB’s 7th Heaven as a kid. This marked his final appearance on the WB as the network changed to CW in September 2005.

He appeared in the Showtime series Master of Horror in the episode-The V Word. This marked the first character he played to use profanity.

Movies

He had a role in Higher Learning, although no website has provided what role he actually played in the movie or even if his scenes made the final cut. He appeared in the Disney movie-Toothless as Phil in 1997. Other movies that ended up never being released included the lead role in the movie Max’s Summer Vacation, Civil Unrest and Interfilm. In 2004 he played a rather controversial figure in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. He played Brain Parks, who could be considered the 2005 version of Steve Urkel without the horrible clothes. He was an extremely smart black kid that was in the chess club, math, knew about electronics and knew Russian. He even considered himself a nerd. The debate about his character being unrealistic flooded internet message boards following the movie’s released.
“Sir, I'm the president of the electronics club, the mathematics club, and the chess club. If there is a bigger nerd in here, please point him out." - Arjay Smith as Brian Parks in The Day After Tomorrow

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