In NCIS: New Orleans, Smith portrays Ginny Young, who stars opposite Emmy nominee Scott Bakula as his new assistant. “It has been amazing. I am about to have a really fun episode on Tuesday, so I am excited about that,” she hinted. “Scott is amazing. He is incredibly easy to work with, and really collaborative. He has had such a long career, and such a dedicated fan-base. Scott is the kindest human.”
She encouraged her fans and viewers to watch NCIS: New Orleans, in an effort to “support the amazing cast and crew.” “Tune in on October 30, since that will be a wild ride with my character Ginny,” she said. “I feel really honored to be a part of a show that is so well-established. Let’s see where this ride with Ginny goes.”
Smith was also featured in director Mickey Keating’s indie horror thriller Psychopaths. “I did that quite a while ago. Mickey Keating is the easiest director to work with and he allowed me to have complete creative control. It ended up premiering at Tribeca,” she said.
In addition, Smith wrote, produced and starred in the dramatic short Pretext, which takes place during a tense conversation between a rape victim and her rapist. “That was a project that I wrote with a friend, Jeremy Radin, and we wrote that over a conversation that we were having. We ended up writing it and doing pre-production within a two week period, so that turnaround was really crazy. We were passionate about getting the story out there, and we wanted to tell the story to people. It was really dramatic,” she said.
Her television credits include Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, Grey’s Anatomy, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Wacko Smacko, among many others.
Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, one of Smith’s favorite experiences included working opposite Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis in an episode where she portrayed a traumatized mother seeking treatment for her suffocating baby. “It doesn’t get any better than Geena Davis. She has the same amount of energy as my mom, which is a compliment. My mom is also the most comforting person. Geena was a complete professional and so welcoming. Her patience and kindness were incredible,” she said.
Aside from her acting endeavors, she enjoys dancing and she is passionate about animal rights, and she likes mythic storytelling from around the world.
In her dream collaboration partners in acting, Smith shared that she would love to work with Plan B Entertainment, which is Brad Pitt’s company. “The caliber of stories that they are putting out there is so great,” she said. “That would be such a dream.”
For asping actors, Smith encouraged them to study and to keep going. “You need to have something to say and you need to have a very deep core of your artistry, and just get with it,” she said.
Digital transformation of entertainment
On the impact of technology on the entertainment business, Smith said, “As long as projects are under the union blanket, then it is great. We are giving storytellers and creators more opportunities, and I am all for it. As long as we are taking care of the creators and the actors, then I celebrate the additional stories on streaming services. It is all about compensating everybody fairly.”
Smith revealed that the scripts that she is receiving these days are all digital, which she enjoys, especially since it saves paper.
For more information on actress Christina Elizabeth Smith, check out her IMDb page.
