Jonathan Turner Smith

Jonathan
Turner Smith

Actor | Writer | Producer

My Story

I recently retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District as a high school English/theatre teacher. I loved teaching and won several awards during my career. I was named the Texas Classroom Teacher Association Representative of the Year and was a Finalist for “You’re the Best Teacher” Award. I was also twice nominated for Teacher of the Year for the Los Angeles Unified School District and was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in American High Schools.

As part of my Master of Arts Degree, I wrote a one-act play, The Losers’ Club, that has been published by Eldridge Publishing and has been produced over 100 times by 60+ junior high and high schools from across the country. Productions of the one-act play have garnered more than 15 area and state high school theatre awards. I have also written two other award-winning one-act plays, Aftermath and The Election, both also published by Eldridge Publishing. My full-length play, Whose High School Is It Anyway? Is published by Heartland Publishers.

Now, however, I have decided to continue where I left off 36 years ago and pursue my love of acting, writing, and producing.

I adapted The Losers’ Club into a screenplay, and it has been optioned as a major motion picture with a start date in 2024. The Screenplay has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and has been honored by more than 100 Screenplay and Film Festival Competitions from around the world.

In 1987, I co-wrote, produced, and essayed the lead role in an independent feature film, BROKEN VICTORY. The film won the Silver Medal at both the New York Film & Television Festival and the Houston International Film Festival. It was also a Finalist for an AFI/ Billboard Dramatic Video Award and the recipient of four (4) Halo Awards from the Southern California Motion Picture Council.

I also produced several original plays in Los Angeles, Night Strangers and Nathan for which I received a Los Angeles Drama-Logue Outstanding Performance Award and an Excellence in Media Award Nomination.

My faith-based feature length screenplay, Jeremy, has won 23 screenplay awards, and I have just completed a new faith-based screenplay, Our Finest Hour.

My horror screenplay, The Werewolf Chronicles, is still a work in progress.

Theatrical Resumé

Educational Resumé

Awards and Honors

Selected Work

The Loser's Club

THE LOSER'S CLUB is the feature film adaptation of my one-act play of the same name. The screenplay has won 32 Screenplay Awards and honored by more than 80 other Screenplay Competitions and Film Festivals from around the world.

The Losers' Club, is published by Eldridge Publishing, and has been produced over 100 times by junior high and high schools throughout the United States, as well as Canada and Australia. The play has garnered more than 15 awards in high school one-act competition in the US.

YOUNG ADULT

COMEDY

REVENGE

Jeremy

Jeremy, my faith-based feature length screenplay, concerns nine-year-old Jeremy who is bullied at school for his belief in God. As Jeremy navigates his feelings concerning his faith, he soon learns with the help of his new friend, Margaret, and her Native American Grandfather that bravery and courage can make a superhero out of anyone – even a third grader.

FAITH-BASED

BULLYING

DRAMEDY

Our Finest Hour

In the not-too-distant future, A New World Order has been established. Although disease and wars are a thing of the past, Christianity has been outlawed. Churches have been closed and anyone found practicing this faith are arrested and labeled as traitors to the state. Mathew Taylor and his family, recently incarcerated and placed in one of the few remaining “Ghettos,” are given one last chance to denounce their faith and pay allegiance to the New World General. The weight of such a decision is nearly unbearable as they know that if they refuse to bend the knee, they will face a certain death.