Douglas Alexander Smith is a Canadian actor known for his work on the HBO series Big Love as Ben Henrickson, the eldest son of polygamist Bill Henrickson. His other work includes , Terminator Genesis, Vinyl, Miss Sloane, When We Rise, The Alienist and the second season of HBO's Big Little Lies.
Smith has been acting since he was cast as Malvolio in his 4th grade production of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. Audiences first saw him on the big screen as a young version of Brendan Fraser's character in Blast from the Past. As a teenager, he went to Australia to play the lead role as an American boy living in Australia in a series called Out There. Early in his career, Smith learned his craft through appearances on television procedurals, including ', ', Close to Home, Family Law, The X-Files, Crossing Jordan, and Cold Case. Smith is best known for his regular role as Bill Paxton's son on the HBO series Big Love which aired for 5 seasons. He also played the role of Edward Porris in Brandon Cronenberg's directorial debut, Antiviral. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and took home the award for Best First Canadian Feature at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. In late 2012, Smith filmed the musical/comedy/horror film Stage Fright. He played the roles of both Metal Killer and Buddy, performing two musical numbers in the film. Stage Fright premiered at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures. 2013 saw Smith star as Tyson, the cyclops half-brother of Percy Jackson in the film . He also began production for his lead role in the horror film Ouija for Universal/Platinum Dunes at the end of 2013. An alumnus of RADA's Shakespeare Summer School, Smith made his off Broadway debut in 2014, starring in the New York premiere of Simon Stephens' Punk Rock at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the West Village. He played William Carlisle. The production and Smith's performance received favorable reviews. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "In such an exemplary cast, it's unfair to single out any one of the seven principal actors for special praise. But Smith, best known for HBO's Big Love, is sad, scary and transfixing." The production was nominated for both OBIE and Drama League Awards. In 2015, Smith was seen in a minor role in Terminator Genisys. He had a significant arc on HBO's Vinyl in 2016. He then returned to the horror genre in The Bye Bye Man, where he starred in the role of Elliot. In 2017, Smith portrayed real-life friend and colleague Dustin Lance Black in When We Rise, an eight-part docudrama based on the memoirs of LGBT activist Cleve Jones directed by Gus Van Sant, Dustin Lance Black, Dee Rees and Thomas Schlamme. Soon after, Smith joined the cast of The Alienist, a 19th century crime drama created by Cary Fukunaga based on the 1994 novel of the same name. His turn as one half of the darkly comedic Isaacson duo earned praise from critics like David Nevins of The Guardian who, in his review of the show, writes: "Two of the best performances, though, are those of Matthew Shear and Douglas Smith as the brothers Isaacson, two bright and innovative Jewish forensic science specialists who stick out like sore thumbs in the very Irish-Catholic environs of Manhattan law enforcement." " In 2019, Smith played an integral role in the second season of HBO's Big Little Lies as Corey Brockfield, a co-worker and love interest of main character Jane Chapman played by Shailene Woodley. In 2020, he reprised his role as Marcus Isaacson in the second season of The Alienist.
