An Atlanta, GA native Jayson Warner Smith is best known for his recurring roles of Wendall Jelks on SundanceTV’s Rectify and Gavin on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Jayson has been seen in, to name a few, American Made with Tom Cruise, Christine with Rebecca Hall, Tracy Letts and J. Smith Cameron, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Hulu’s recent mini-series Candy. In 2023 he appeared in the films Emancipation directed by Antoine Fuqua and You’re Killing Me featuring Dermot Mulroney and the late great Anne Heche. He will be seen in a major guest star role opposite Don Cheadle in NBC Universal’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist on Peacock in September 2024.
He has the distinction of having two films in both the 2015 and the 2016 Sundance Independent Film Festivals. In 2016 with Christine and The Birth of a Nation which won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize; and also in 2015 with 99 Homes and Mississippi Grind. Jayson also has had the honor of acting in two films that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2016 with The Book of Love and again in 2019 with Only. He also is in The Devil to Pay that had its world premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival in 2019 where the film won Best Georgia Film.
Now Jayson is stepping into producing. Playing the starring role and Exec. Producing, the short film Chipper. penned by Ruckus & Lane Skye, he stars as Reese, a prodigal son brought home by a father with a family secret and a cry for help. Chipper has screened at over thirty festivals as of May 2024 having won awards at several and now has a home on Omeleto on YouTube.
Jayson has also had roles on Netflix’s Outer Banks, Amazon’s One Mississippi, CBS’ NCIS: New Orleans, FOX’s Sleepy Hollow, CW’s The Vampire Diaries. Other work includes I Saw the Light, Anchorman II, 42, Being Mary Jane, Footloose (2011), Coma and other projects and plays.
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