Entertaiment

If you live in, or have recently visited, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City or St. George, chances are you may have had the good fortune to catch a glimpse at one of Summer Naomi Smart’s many critically acclaimed performances.

But you don’t have to step outside your house to catch a performance by this prolific young actress. In fact, you may be hearing her voice every day on your television screen as your children play the Liken the Scriptures story of Esther and the King. Summer plays the role of Queen Esther in that production.

She also played the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast: A Latter-day Tale, a movie that opened in theaters in March of this year and was released on DVD last month.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Summer is the youngest of seven girls. “My mother said whenever she took to the movies, from the age of three, I would sit still and watch. For hours, I would take in everything.”

While attending junior high school, Summer became involved in acting. “I thought I would eventually get acting out of my system, but instead my desire for acting grew.”

Summer received her BFA from Brigham Young University in 2005, majoring in music dance theatre. While there, she performed and toured internationally as a three-year member of the BYU Young Ambassadors. Her theater credits include three seasons at Southern Utah’s Tuacahn Center for the Arts, Lagoon Entertainment, Robert Redford’s Sundance Theatre, West Valley’s Hale Center Theatre, and Disneyland Entertainment.

A professional stage-performer since the age of 16, her first film-acting role came when she took on the lead character, Kerra, in Chris Heimerdinger’s soon-to-be-released film, Passage to Zarahemla. This film, set in a small town in southern Utah, follows the story of Kerra and Brock McConnell, who flee state authorities following the death of their mother and inability to locate their father.

Seeking refuge at the home of the only relatives Kerra remembers from her childhood – an LDS aunt and uncle who reside at the an intriguing place where parallel realities once collided for Kerra as a child and where ancient Nephites still cross paths with modern residents of this sleepy Utah town. Caught in a trap of what to do next, a gang’s invasion, along with the arrival of some Gadianton Robbers, lead Kerra and Brock to an unexpected surprise.