Biography

Allison Smith was born the youngest of six children in New York, New York on December 9. When she was 2 her family moved to Bergen County, New Jersey. As a child she was advanced at math, science and reading and was forwarded a grade in school. However, her favorite interests were listening to and singing music.

While in the fourth grade at her New Jersey elementary, she auditioned for the school play and was chosen by her classmates as the soloist. Her small town was overwhelmed by her voice and she was encouraged to pursue parts in local productions. She played Marta in The Sound of Music and Baby June in Gypsy.

In November of 1979, she ventured into Manhattan for an open call for replacements for the children’s chorus for the original Broadway production of Evita. She was hired. It was her first professional job. At that same time, there were highly publicized open call auditions for the lead role in the Broadway musical Annie.

Allison auditioned against thousands of hopeful girls and was chosen for the title role of the famous redheaded orphan. One month past her tenth birthday, she became the youngest person to ever star in a Broadway musical at that time and performed the role the longest with over 1,000 performances before her run ended in September 1982.
    
    

From March 1983 until 1989, Allison starred on CBS’ emmy award winning comedy Kate & Allie as "Jennie Lowell", the daughter of Jane Curtin. The series was shot in New York City and after graduating high school, she attended New York University’s School of Arts and Sciences, while simultaneously completing the last two years of the series.



During her Annie and Kate & Allie years Smith was asked to sing at Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, The White House and the Kennedy Center. She was nominated twice for Best Lead Actress in a TV series by the Youth In Film Awards and was acknowledged by the state of New York for her contributions and dedication to numerous charities, including role as a Youth Ambassador for the American Lung Association.

After moving to Los Angeles, Smith began her post-childhood career in the 1994 independent film A Reason To Believe as Charlotte Byrne, a young woman raped on a college campus. She received critical notice for that performance as well as for her portrayal as "Carol" (the student) in the Los Angeles Premiere Production of David Mamet's controversial two person play Oleanna, directed by William H. Macy.

She returned to comedy in a film called At First Sight and had small roles in Switchback, Jerry Maguire and How To Make An American Quilt (her roles in the latter two unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor).Television work continued with the movies The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Where Are My Children?, Bed of Lies and Full Circle, while appearing in numerous guest roles on both comedies and dramas. Recurring roles on NBC's Sweet Justice, ABC's Wasteland and the lead in ABC's 1997 series Spy Game continued to make her a television talent.



In 1998,Allison’s film career continued with Los Anos Barbaros (The Barbarian Years), a co-production between Spain and France, playing the role of an American living in the Paris in the 1930’s. She spent 3 months filming in both countries before returning to the U.S. for the female lead in her funniest role yet, as Julie Barber in the CBS television series Buddy Faro.



Smith is recognized for her role as "Mallory O’Brien" on NBC’s Emmy winning and critically acclaimed hit drama The West Wing. Her "will it or won’t it be a relationship" with Rob Lowe’s "Sam Seaborn" and her supportive relationship of her father John Spencer’s Chief of Staff "Leo McGarry" gave audiences a refreshing look at the personal lives of White House staffers. Along with its cast, she received the honor of Outstanding Performance By An Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2000 Screen Actors Guild Awards,and has been part of it's ensemble cast as it won Golden Globes and Emmy Awards as Best Drama Series.



In 2000, Smith (finally) returned to the musical stage in The Education of Randy Newman at the South Coast Repertory. She originated the role of Newman's wife and received critical praises for her rendition of "When He Loved Me" with Randy Newman himself  saying "Allison's rendition of 'I Think It's Gonna Rain Today' is the best I've ever heard." More recently she co-starred with Alan Alda in the Mark Taper Forum's original production of QED,  a two person play written by Peter Parnell about Richard Feynman. She can be seen in the Phoenix Pictures feature-film Holes starring Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, and Patricia Arquette, and continuing her role as Mallory on The West Wing.



In 2005 she gave an inspired performance in the Pilot Premiere episode on TNT's record breaking series "The Closer".  She has also appeared on "Scrubs", "House M.D." and "Close To Home".