Smith maxed out more than a dozen credit cards, and sold his much-treasured comic book collection, to raise $27,575 to make the film, while saving money by casting friends and acquaintances in most roles. He decided to set his film, Clerks, at the store, borrowing the a-day-in-the-life structure from the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing. Smith moved back to New Jersey and got his old job back at a convenience store in Leonardo. Unlike them, Smith left halfway through the course, figuring he knew enough to proceed and wanting to save money for his first film. Smith attended Vancouver Film School for four months, where he met longtime collaborators Scott Mosier and Dave Klein.
He has said, "It was the movie that got me off my ass it was the movie that lit a fire under me, the movie that made me think, 'Hey, I could be a filmmaker.' And I had never seen a movie like that before ever in my life." He assembled a library of independent filmmakers like Linklater, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee and Hal Hartley to draw from. Impressed that Linklater set and shot the film in his hometown of Austin, Texas rather than on a soundstage in a major city, Smith was inspired to become a filmmaker, and to set films where he lived. On his 21st birthday, Smith saw Richard Linklater's comedy Slacker. Smith met Jason Mewes while working at a youth center they became friends after discovering a mutual interest in comic books. After high school, Smith attended The New School in New York City, but did not graduate. An overweight teen, he developed into a comedic observer of life to socialize with friends and girls.
Smith attended Henry Hudson Regional High School, where he was a B and C student, videotaped basketball games, and produced sketch comedy skits in the style of Saturday Night Live. Smith vowed never to work at something that he did not enjoy. His father grew to despise his job, which greatly influenced Smith, who remembers his father finding it difficult on some days to get up and go to work.
Smith's childhood was scheduled around his father's late shifts at the post office. He was raised in a Catholic household in the nearby clamming town of Highlands. He has two siblings: an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Jr. Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2, 1970, in Red Bank, New Jersey, the son of Grace (née Schultz), a homemaker, and Donald E. 2.8 Other film and television appearances.2.7 Q&A documentaries and other specials.
He has also served as a director-for-hire for material he did not write, including the buddy cop action comedy Cop Out (2010) and various television series episodes, creating Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021. Since 2011, Smith has mostly made horror films, including Red State (2011) and the "comedy horror films" Tusk (2014) and Yoga Hosers (2016), two in a planned series of three such films set in Canada dubbed the True North trilogy. While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the " View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey. Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster.