While enrolled at Collin College, Smith worked as theatre technician. He was later cast as Alex in
A Clockwork Orange in a Quad C Theatre production to a positive review from the
Dallas Observer. In 2005, he portrayed Trey, a gay man facing intolerance from the son of a fundamentalist preacher, in
Hate Crime, an independent film that featured at gay and lesbian film festivals around the United States. Upon graduating from Juilliard, Smith briefly considered joining the US Army due to several setbacks in his career. Smith eventually received acting roles in two more independent films,
Red Hook and
The War Boys. In 2008, he appeared on
Broadway in the play
Come Back, Little Sheba as the character Turk. Smith was cast as Lieutenant Matthew Scott, a lead role in the 2009
Stargate television series,
Stargate Universe, until its cancellation in 2010. He also guest-starred on
Law & Order in 2009. In 2011, Smith recurred on
The CW's
Gossip Girl and starred in the SyFy original film
Red Faction: Origins. In April 2012, he began his run as Andrei in the hit Broadway show,
The Columnist, which ended in July 2012. His next projects included the mini-series
Coma from producer Tony Scott and an appearance on
Warehouse 13 for
SyFy. From September 2013 to February 2014, he played The Gentleman Caller in a Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's
The Glass Menagerie at the
Booth Theatre. This role earned him 2014
Drama Desk and
Tony Award nominations as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. In 2015, he appeared in the pilot episode of
Quantico as one of the new FBI recruits. Smith was a lead cast member on the
Netflix original series
Sense8 (2015–2018) playing the character Will Gorski. He followed up with main roles on
Treadstone, a serial spin-off of the
Bourne films, and the
BBC World War II drama mini series
World on Fire in 2019. Smith played Berg in
The Matrix Resurrections in 2021 and in 2023, was cast as Daniel Lennix, a lead character in
FX on Hulu's series ''
Class of '09 and as Ken in Essex County'' a Canadian television drama.
A House Is Not a Disco, his debut documentary film as a director, premiered at the 2024
SXSW festival. == Personal life ==