Alexis Smith(XIV)
- Director
- Producer
- Actress
Alexis Smith is a multi-award winning director of documentaries. She is also known as a producer, writer, actress and comedian.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, she started her career on stage in youth theatre and studied acting and performance with the Glasgow Acting Academy, featuring in local BBC dramas in her late teens.
She went on to study science at the University of Glasgow, BSc (Hons) Zoology, and worked in the Amazon rainforest, Western Australia and Madagascar doing biodiversity research and making conservation films.
In 2014, Alexis joined the BBC where she worked for four years and travelled around Europe and the USA making prime time specialist factual series and observational documentaries for worldwide distribution. These productions received an RTS Scotland Award, a Sandford St Martin's Radio Times Reader's Award and a BAFTA Scotland nomination.
Alexis moved to New Zealand in 2018 and went on to direct and produce documentaries for major platforms locally and internationally, including TVNZ, Three, RNZ, Re:, Stuff, Maori TV, Channel 5 and the BBC. She has also directed, produced and written commercials and music videos and is known to often self-shoot her own documentaries.
In New Zealand, she has continued acting and trained with Miranda Harcourt at Rata Studios and studied improv comedy at Covert Theatre. She played leading roles in the short film 'Other Valuable Things' (2023) and the comedy theatre production 'Women Drinking Hemlock' (2023) at The Fringe Festival in Wellington.
As a director, her films have received critical acclaim, winning multiple awards and screening in international festivals. Her music docuseries 'The Collective' (2021) won the Award of Merit at IndieFest and was a finalist at NZ Web Fest. Her debut feature documentary 'Te Ara - The Path' (2023) won the Special Jury Award and the People's Choice Award at the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival where it premiered and was a finalist at Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
Known for her visual flair and original, off-beat style, Alexis's directorial voice balances humour with depth in intimate, character-driven stories exploring progressive topics. Alexis pushes boundaries artistically while amplifying voices of underrepresented groups and cultivating empathy and hope in audiences.
Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, she started her career on stage in youth theatre and studied acting and performance with the Glasgow Acting Academy, featuring in local BBC dramas in her late teens.
She went on to study science at the University of Glasgow, BSc (Hons) Zoology, and worked in the Amazon rainforest, Western Australia and Madagascar doing biodiversity research and making conservation films.
In 2014, Alexis joined the BBC where she worked for four years and travelled around Europe and the USA making prime time specialist factual series and observational documentaries for worldwide distribution. These productions received an RTS Scotland Award, a Sandford St Martin's Radio Times Reader's Award and a BAFTA Scotland nomination.
Alexis moved to New Zealand in 2018 and went on to direct and produce documentaries for major platforms locally and internationally, including TVNZ, Three, RNZ, Re:, Stuff, Maori TV, Channel 5 and the BBC. She has also directed, produced and written commercials and music videos and is known to often self-shoot her own documentaries.
In New Zealand, she has continued acting and trained with Miranda Harcourt at Rata Studios and studied improv comedy at Covert Theatre. She played leading roles in the short film 'Other Valuable Things' (2023) and the comedy theatre production 'Women Drinking Hemlock' (2023) at The Fringe Festival in Wellington.
As a director, her films have received critical acclaim, winning multiple awards and screening in international festivals. Her music docuseries 'The Collective' (2021) won the Award of Merit at IndieFest and was a finalist at NZ Web Fest. Her debut feature documentary 'Te Ara - The Path' (2023) won the Special Jury Award and the People's Choice Award at the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival where it premiered and was a finalist at Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
Known for her visual flair and original, off-beat style, Alexis's directorial voice balances humour with depth in intimate, character-driven stories exploring progressive topics. Alexis pushes boundaries artistically while amplifying voices of underrepresented groups and cultivating empathy and hope in audiences.
