Lisa Velten Smith
Artistic Associate
Lisa hails from Northbrook, Illinois which was where her love for the arts began. At the age of 9, she wrote, directed, produced and narrated her adaptation of the Nutcracker with her third grade class. From there she went on to act in the Junior High’s plays. But it was in high school, after an injury kept her on the sidelines of Varsity volley ball games, that she knew she wanted to act and be involved in the theatre. She acted in many of the high school’s plays and was a top competitor at the Illinois Forensics Tournaments earning many awards. Lisa went on to study at The Theatre School at DePaul University after which she worked professionally in theatre and film. Lisa worked with such companies as Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Famous Door, About Face and WNEP theatre of which she was an artistic associate. It was at WNEP that she learned the brutal hard truth about running a theatre company. Lisa’s tv/film work in Chicago included: Early Edition. The Watcher, Flying, and What are You Having. After losing many roles to actors from New York and LA, Lisa decided it was time for a change but she wasn’t ready to move to a city without any connections. She applied to the top three grad schools, was accepted into UCSD and promptly left Chicago to spend the next three years in sunny San Diego. After graduating from UCSD, Lisa moved to New York where she has performed in such plays as All’s Well That Ends Well (Theatre for a New Audience), Greedy (Clubbed Thumb), Antony & Cleopatra (TFANA), Rabbit Hole (Premiere Stages) and Silent Heroes (Roundtable Ensemble). TV: Law and Order , Law and Order: C.I. Lisa is married to Andrew Smith and is the proud mama of Rocky and Moses, their puppy and kitty.