Introduction
Even though today you may recognize this handsome face from the Hallmark Channel’s romantic TV series “When Calls the Heart”, Canadian actor Kavan Smith started his career performing primarily in science fiction genre.
How did this shift happen? Was this the first time Smith’s life changed paths? And who is his mysterious wife?
Early life
Kavan Joel Smith is a TV actor, born on 6 May 1970, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he and his brother were raised by their father after the divorce of their parents. Although the name of their father remains unknown, their mother’s name is June Hawk. He always had an affinity for sports – chiefly football and martial arts, and he spent 15 years training and perfecting the latter one.
HeyThis is Kavan Smith, but who do you know him as?- David
Posted by Save Sci-Fi on Monday, March 16, 2015
He discovered his love for performing at a young age, and as he stated in one interview, he and his friend would often skip school classes to go rehearsing comedy skits that they would later perform on local busses and malls.
Switching Universities
After high school, he moved from Edmonton to pursue education at the University of Calgary, Canada, as he wanted to graduate in economics. However, he himself stated multiple times that he didn’t find himself too skilled in the field, and after a year and a half the University asked him to withdraw before going under review, so he dropped the college. He took a year-long break contemplating whether or not to risk and pursue his childhood dreams of acting and comedy, and finally he went to Mount Royal University where he enrolled in the performing arts program.
This controversial shift proved to be the decision that changed his life for the better. Also, it was there and then that he started to write, and decided to take his love of acting into a more serious path.
Career in Sci-Fi Series
Kavan Smith started his acting career in 1993, when he moved to Vancouver and landed a leading role in the television show called “Destiny Ridge”. In the following years, he performed in a plethora of series and TV movies, most famously in “Alibi”, “Escape from Mars”, “Fearless”, “Smallville” and “The Twilight Zone”. This was a sign, in a way, of him becoming the face of Vancouver’s sci-fi scene. He played five different characters in five episodes of “The Outer Limits”, and after catching the eye of Brian DePalma in 1999, he was cast in the role of the American Pilot in “Mission to Mars”.
However, the role which was his true breakthrough was as Major Evan Lorne in two episodes of “Stargate SG-1”, one of the biggest fiction series in the early 2000s. When “Stargate: Atlantis” was announced, Smith was offered a role of a completely new character, but they eventually decided to scrap that draft, and bring back Major Evan Lorne for another 29 episodes. This recurring role made him a new fan-favorite and brought him into the limelight and international fame.
Soon after, Smith got a recurring role in the series “The 4400” as Agent Garrity, another prominent character, and similar projects included guest starring in “Supernatural”, “Battlestar Galactica”, “The Guard”, “Reunion” and “Jeremiah”. He was also noticed as Deputy Andy in Syfy’s “Eureka” and “Red: Werewolf Hunter”, a modern horror version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, in which he co-starred with Felicia Day.
He was also supposed to bring the character of Major Evan Lorne to the big screens in “Stargate: Extinction”, but the script for that movie was eventually dropped.
Other Acting Roles
After years of sticking to sci-fi roles, Smith got the call to join the cast of Hallmark Channel’s “When Calls the Heart” in the second season of the series. He declined at first since it was outside of his niche, but when he heard that the director of his first episode would be Neill Fearnley who he had worked with on numerous occasions, and that his character would be the love interest of Pascale Hutton, his real-life friend and “The 4400” colleague, he changed his mind. So, the role of Leland “Lee” Coulter was born. Proving him to be more versatile in his acting than was previously thought, this series helped Smith land parts in several more non-science fiction titles, most notably in the Hallmark Channel’s original movie “The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells”, and “Love on the Menu”.
I did!….. not https://t.co/oUgIAR6lGo
— Kavan J Smith (@KavanjSmith) June 24, 2019
Apart from “getting out of the box” when it comes to the type of characters he plays, Smith now also hosts his own TV show, “Home and Family” for Hallmark Channel, and is also one of the faces of “June Weddings Preview Special” on the same channel.
Secretive Marriage
For years, Kavan Smith had been decisive about keeping the identity of the woman of his life private. It was even unclear whether or not he had a spouse until he announced on his Twitter in February 2017 that he would be late for an interview because he has to pick-up his wife from an airport ,and that his two children – later revealed to be boys – were upset. He posted several more tweets regarding his wife, including from June of the same year where he stated that his wife disagreed with his desires to post his wedding photos publicly.
Sometime later, it was revealed that his wife’s name is Corrine Clark, the casting director for “Stargate Atlantis” and “Stargate Universe”, and that they met for the first time when Smith was volunteering at a treatment center years before. Still, the couple keeps a low profile low, and not much more information has been made a public knowledge, however, the two apparently enjoy their married life while residing in Vancouver with their family.
Personal Life
Smith also prefers to keep the details of his private life a secret. One of the few known facts is that he loves to cook. As he told International Business Times, when he was asked what he wanted to film next after the movie “Wedding Bells”, he replied: ‘I really like to cook in my spare time, so they asked me what kind of ideas I would pursue. So, I had this idea of a chef, and I pitched it to them, and they bought it. (…)So, I wrote a script based on me faking [cooking] really well, and we’ll see what happens.’
This is how the movie “Love on the Menu” was born.
Smith also used to bartend for a brief time, while waiting in between acting projects. He owned a place in Los Angeles, California USA, but sold it in 2007 because he realized that he couldn’t move in-between countries that much once he had a family. He claims to be an avid sci-fi lover, and his favorite science fiction movie and inspiration is “Star Wars”.
Relationship with Pascale Hutton
Despite him being married, rumors started to circulate about his possible affair with his “When Calls the Heart” on-screen partner, Pascale Hutton.
The gossips only escalated when the two announced that their chemistry would be brought to another feature on Hallmark Channel, “The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells”, that premiered in the middle of 2018. The two fueled the rumor even more by being widely considered one of the best couples on TV, but as Hutton has been in a happy marriage with the fellow actor Danny Dorosh since 2002, it is most likely that this so-called romance is just a rumor, especially since both have stated numerous times that they are (just) great friends in real life and that their partners are really comfortable with their relationship.
Net worth
As someone working in the entertainment industry, Kavan Smith has earned a little fortune by working in dozens of films and series, which is his main source of income. Despite not winning many awards for his acting skills, his success comes from his huge fan base, as he is loved by many devoted sci-fi fans. All of this leads his net worth to be estimated at around $800,000, as of early 2020.
Physical characteristics
Kavan Smith holds Canadian citizenship, is a Caucasian male with dark eyes and black hair, stands at 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall and weighs around 175lbs (80kgs). Smith has an athletic build and keeps a healthy frame, which is no surprise if we take a look at his roles and love of martial arts.
