Kerr Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 9, 1972, and was named after his grandmother's maiden name, which was Kerr. He spent his childhood in Exton, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philly, with his younger sister named Allison. In high school he was Class President, and he played many sports including lacrosse and soccer. He graduated from high school in 1990 and enrolled in the University of Vermont. His father encouraged him to major in finance and accounting, and he graduated in 1994 with a B.A. in Finance and Accounting. He returned to Exton and opened a marketing firm with his father.
Shortly after opening the firm, he realized that this wasn't the career that he wanted. He remembered that he enjoyed the presentation part of his job, and decided to become an actor. Earlier, in high school, he had signed up for an acting class when he was a sophmore and found that he loved it.
He sold his car and moved to New York City. He then got the role as an extra in the movie Twelve Monkeys. Nine months later he got the part of Ryder Huges on As The World Turns (CBS), in 1996. He got an award from Soap Opera Magazine for Best New Actor, in 1996 as well. In May of 1997 he was let go from the show for no reason. He read for Party of Five (Fox), but he either blew it or they didn't like him.
He then got the role on Dawson's Creek, playing the one and only Jack McPhee. First, Jack kissed Joey, breaking up the Dawson and Joey relationship. This also resulted in Dawson punching Jack. He then came out, and Jack and Kerr are now heroes for homosexual youth. Jack then met Ethan, and he had his first gay kiss, which shows Kerr's great acting abilities. It was also telivision's first gay kiss.
From the September 1999 issue of J-14, we now have Kerr's thoughts about his costars! About Katie Holmes (Joey Potter), he says "we're really good friends. When I first got to Wilmington, she called me up and said 'Let's go to dinner'." About Joshua Jackson (Pacey Witter), he says "Josh and I are buddies and we hang out all the time. He's got energy up the wazoo. He's just crazy." About Meredith Monroe (Andie McPhee), he says, "We've become good friends because we've gone through this thing together since Day One!" About James Van Der Beek (Dawson Leery) he says, "James is kind of quiet. I wish we could hang out more, but he likes to keep to himself." About Michelle Williams (Jen Lindley), he says, "Michelle lives out on the beach, so she's kind of far away from everybody. But we have a lot of fun together."
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