Jayson Warner Smith has been in demand throughout 2024, 2025 and 2026, appearing in Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family, and The Good Daughter, premiering on Peacock in November 2026. Audiences may also recognize him as Earl/TCB in Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue, now streaming on Netflix.
His upcoming projects include American Deadbolt, arriving on Apple TV and Amazon in July 2026, Heartland, a Netflix feature starring Jessica Chastain, and The Rescue, slated for a theatrical release in January 2027.
Jayson holds the rare distinction of appearing in two films at both the 2015 and 2016 Sundance Film Festivals. In 2015, he appeared in 99 Homes and Mississippi Grind. The following year, he returned to Sundance with Christine and The Birth of a Nation, the latter earning both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. He has also appeared in two films that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival: The Book of Love (2016) and Only (2019). The independent feature The Devil to Pay (originally titled Reckoning), starring Danielle Deadwyler, made its world premiere at the 2019 Atlanta Film Festival, where it won Best Georgia Film.
Jayson is perhaps best known for his recurring roles as Wendall Jelks on SundanceTV’s Rectify and Gavin on AMC’s The Walking Dead. His extensive television credits also include Netflix’s Outer Banks, Amazon’s One Mississippi, CBS’s NCIS: New Orleans, FOX’s Sleepy Hollow, The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Being Mary Jane, and Coma.
His film work spans studio productions and acclaimed independent cinema, including American Made opposite Tom Cruise, Where the Crawdads Sing, Christine alongside Rebecca Hall, Tracy Letts, and J. Smith-Cameron, The Birth of a Nation, The Book of Love, 99 Homes, Mississippi Grind, Only, Heavy Water, and Northfield. In 2023, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation and You’re Killing Me, starring Dermot Mulroney and the late Anne Heche. Additional credits include I Saw the Light, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, 42, Footloose (2011), and numerous stage productions.
Jayson has had the opportunity to collaborate with an impressive roster of acclaimed filmmakers and showrunners, including Craig Brewer, Olivia Newman, Doug Liman, Nate Parker, Antonio Campos, Ramin Bahrani, Ray McKinnon, Ryan Fleck, and Anna Boden. Along the way, he has shared the screen with many of Hollywood’s most respected actors, including Tom Cruise, Don Cheadle, Leslie Odom Jr., Frieda Pinto, Maisie Williams, Michael Shannon, Andrew Garfield, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Laura Dern, James Woods, Lauren Ambrose, Cuba Gooding Jr., Demi Moore, and David Duchovny.
In recent years, Jayson has expanded into producing. After several smaller projects, he launched his passion project, the award-winning short film Chipper, written by Ruckus Skye and Lane Skye (The Devil to Pay, Becky, Rattle the Cage). Jayson stars as Reese, a prodigal son called home by his father, where a long-buried family secret and an urgent plea for help await. Chipper premiered at the 2023 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival before screening at more than thirty festivals throughout 2023 and 2024, earning multiple jury and audience awards along the way.
A native Georgian, Jayson divides his time between Athens and Atlanta’s historic Kirkwood neighborhood with his wife, Lisa. He is represented by The Alexander White Agency in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles, and is managed by Zero Gravity Management in Los Angeles.