You can see her on screen at a movie theater near you, acting in the new movie “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins.” But you can also find Samantha Smith hitting the books at McKinley High School.  Samantha has been out shining her competitors in the modeling and acting business since she was three years old.  This recent role was the break she had been waiting to achieve.  “I was watching movies and I told my mom ‘I want to do that’,” she recalls.  She received her first opportunity for the spotlight, performing in television commercials and modeling.
     While the high school freshman recently rubbed elbows with veteran actors like James Earl Jones and Martin Lawrence, she is well aware of the importance of her education.  Samantha says she applies the same dedication to perfecting her craft as she does to her school work.  And she has a serious message for classmates interested in the movie business. “You have to be dedicated to school before you can be dedicated to anything.  You have to make sure you have yourself together before you can do anything else,” says the up and coming actor.  “Realistically with movies they probably won’t let you on set unless you have a 3.0 or higher,” she adds.  Samantha says directors and producers look at young actor’s grades to determine their level maturity and ability to get a job done.
     Samantha’s role in “Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins” was her first speaking part, but she also appeared as an extra in another Martin Lawrence comedy, “Big Momma’s House 2”, in 2005.