Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1983-01-29
- Born Place: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Also Known As:
Brian Michael
Brian Michael Smith
Brian Michael Smith is an American actor, producer, and LGBTQ+ advocate born on January 29, 1983, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Raised by his mother, Ingrid Smith, he attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, where he played football on the boys' team and joined the girls' track and field team, setting records in shot put and pole vaulting. He made history in 1999 as the first person assigned female at birth to score a varsity touchdown in Michigan. Smith is a transgender man who studied acting and video production at Kent State University before moving to New York City for his acting career, where he trained at the William Esper Studio. After early roles in television shows like Girls, Blue Bloods, Person of Interest, and Law & Order: SVU, he had a breakthrough role as Toine Wilkins, a trans police officer, in Ava DuVernay's Queen Sugar (2017). In 2020, he made history again as the first openly Black trans man to have a regular role on network television for his part as firefighter Paul Strickland in FOX's procedural drama, 9-1-1: Lone Star. He has also starred as Pierce Williams in The L Word: Generation Q and appeared in the 2020 documentary Disclosure: Hollywood's Image of Transgender. Smith uses his platform to advocate for trans representation, visibility, and education.
