T. Ryder Smith (born March 9, 1958) is an American actor. A native of

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

and long-time resident of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he appears frequently on stage, particularly in avant-garde theatre works, as well as on TV, film, and as a voice actor.

Stage

Smith has appeared on Broadway in the world premiere of ''

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

'', the original American company of ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...

'', both at Lincoln Center, and in the 2009 revival of ''

Equus Equus may refer to: * ''Equus'' (genus), a genus of animals including horses, donkeys and zebras * ''Equus'' (play), a play by Peter Shaffer * ''Equus'' (film), a film adaptation of the Peter Shaffer play * Equus (comics), a comic book characte ...

'' opposite Daniel Radcliffe and

Richard Griffiths Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play ''The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Aw ...

. Other work in NYC includes the world premieres of plays by

Richard Foreman Richard Foreman (born June 10, 1937 in New York City) is an American avant-garde playwright and the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Achievements and awards Foreman has written, directed and designed over fifty of his own plays, b ...

David Greenspan David Greenspan (born 1956) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of six Obies, including an award in 2010 for Sustained Achievement. Life Greenspan was born in 1956 in Los Angeles, California. He holds a B.A. in Drama fro ...

, Katori Hall and

Anne Washburn Anne Washburn is an American playwright. Life Washburn graduated from Reed College and from New York University, with an M.F.A. Her plays have been produced in New York City by Cherry Lane Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, The Civilians, Vineyard Theatre, ...

, and in

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the rec ...

’s ''Passion Play'' and '' Dead Man's Cell Phone''. Regional theatre work includes world premiere productions of plays by Sarah Ruhl,

Mary Kathryn Nagle Mary Kathryn Nagle is a playwright and an attorney specializing in tribal sovereignty of Native nations and peoples. She was born in Oklahoma City, OK, and is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She previously served as the ex ...

, Charles Mee,

Tanya Barfield Tanya Barfield is an American playwright whose works have been presented both nationally and internationally.DeVoti, Emily"Blue Door: Painting within the lines of history with Tanya Barfield"brooklynrail.org, October 2006, Accessed 13 September 2 ...

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

, work with Theatre of War, and the 2007 collaboration with artist/activist Paul Chan, The

Classical Theatre of Harlem The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) is an off-broadway professional theatre company founded in 1999 at the Harlem School for the Arts. Producing on average 2-3 productions a year as well as implementing extensive educational programming, CTH remai ...

, and the public-arts presenters

Creative Time Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1974 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged artworks in the public realm, particularly in vacant spaces of historical and architectura ...

to perform

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's play '' Waiting for Godot'' in the outdoor areas of New Orleans which had been most devastated by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. Video of the production and Chan’s set pieces are in the permanent collection at MOMA.

Film, television and voice

Film and TV work includes appearances in the film '' The Report,'' TV guest-appearances on ''Bull'''','' '' Hunters'', '' The Blacklist'', '' Elementary'', '' Nurse Jackie'', '' Blue Bloods'', '' Law & Order SVU'' and the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

American Experience series ''The Abolitionists''; playing "The Trickster" in the cyber-horror film '' Brainscan''; Marie Losier's experimental short film ''The Ontological Cowboy'', shown at the 2006

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...

, experimental short films by

Rachel Rose Rachel Rose (born September 20, 1970) is a Canadian/American poet, essayist and short story writer. She has published three collections of poetry, ''Giving My Body to Science'', ''Notes on Arrival and Departure'', and ''Song and Spectacle''. Her ...

, Redmond Entwistle, and Lawrence Krauser, and as himself in ''MindFLUX'', a documentary about theatre-artist

. He supplies the voices of Baron Ünderbheit and Otto Aquarius on the cartoon TV series ''

The Venture Bros. ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animation, adult animated action comedy TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on ...

'', the voice of Sander Cohen in the videogame '' BioShock'', (and the '' BioShock Infinite'' DLC '' Burial at Sea'') and appears in the annual Bloomsday readings of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's novel ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'' on Pacifica radio station

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...

Awards

*2021 Audie award, Best Non-Fiction audiobook (narrator), ''Fire in Paradise''. *2017 OBIE award, Outstanding Ensemble Cast, ''Oslo'', NYC. *2007 Drama Desk award for Outstanding Ensemble Cast, ''Lebensraum'', NYC. *2007 Craig Noel award, Outstanding Lead Performance, ''Lincolnesque'', Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, CA. *2001 nomination: Drama Desk award, Outstanding Solo Performer, ''Underneath the Lintel'', NYC.

References

External links

* * *
American Theater Magazine Profile September 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, T. Ryder 1958 births American male film actors American male stage actors Living people American male voice actors Male actors from New York (state)