From baby commercials to films like The Patriot with Mel Gibson, Gregory Smith has been acting (and loving it) since he can remember. Now melting hearts as shy, sensitive piano prodigy Ephram Brown on the WB's angsty father-son hit drama Everwood, Smith says he didn't have to travel far to Sundance this January for the preem of what he calls his "extremely independent" new movie Book of Love, an infidelity tale costarring Frances O'Connor and Simon Baker.
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Smith already lives in Park City, Utah, where the small-town-set series is partly shot. And despite raves for his Everwood work from the likes of The New Yorker, Smith, 20, shares some of his sulky, in-need-of-a-hug alter ego's characteristic insecurity: "How did I do?" he asks post-chat. "I'm not a very good interview, usually." Aw, Greg, don't be so hard on yourself!
HOLLYWOOD LIFE: You were 15 when you had a kissing scene with Kirsten Dunst in 1998's Small Soldiers. What do you remember about it?
GREGORY SMITH: Believe it or not, that was my first kiss--but I didn't tell anybody because I was embarrassed. Imagine having your first kiss in front of like 60 crew people, being filmed from three angles while your mom stands next to her mom, taking pictures. Actually, the director, Joe Dante, was nice enough to cut together all the angles into a big montage with dramatic music and send it to my mom.
Q: On Everwood you and Treat Williams, who plays your widowed dad, sure do have a lot of screaming matches.
A: Yeah, those are fun. Those are very therapeutic. [Laughs] Ephram can be kind of a smart-ass sometimes, so I get older guys who come up to me and go, "If my son ever talked to me like that, I would kick his ass!" I'm like, "I was just reading my lines, don't kick my ass!"
Q: Treat is an avid flyer. Have you gone up with him in one of his planes?
A: I have. I used to be terrified of flying commercially, but after I flew with Treat, not anymore. We were doing barrel rolls and loops, and that kind of makes turbulence seem like not such a big deal.
Q: Do people on the street ever call you Ephram?
A: No, but you know what I do get? People always yell out to me, "Dawson!"
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Andre Chautard