
Biography
Paul Slade Smith is a writer and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. His three published plays have collectively had more than 500 productions. Paul's first play, Unnecessary Farce, has been staged throughout the United States, and in Australia, Austria, Canada, Great Britain, Iceland, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland - and translated into French, German, Swiss German and Icelandic. His political comedy, The Outsider, won two Helen Hayes Awards in its Washington, DC premiere, where it was hailed as “a laugh-out-loud whimsical farce, as if Oscar Wilde has come back from the dead to write an episode of The West Wing.” His third play, Theatre People, Or The Angel Next Door, has happily hopped from theatre to theatre across the country since its 2023 world premiere. As an actor, Paul’s credits include the original Broadway casts of Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Lincoln Center revival of My Fair Lady. Following its Broadway run, Paul starred as Willy Wonka in the Australian premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His regional theatre performing credits include The Goodman, Steppenwolf, American Repertory Theatre, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.