Kevin is a Kiwi native and one of the most popular actors in the country. He has played Ares, Iphicles Jerry Patrick Brown, and Bacchus in episodes of both Xena and Hercules. He also did the voice of Ares in the anaimated movie "Hercules and Xena: Battle for Mount Olympus", made in 1998. So he is very much a part of the Xenaverse.
Smith if the father of three sons, Oscar, Tyrone and Willard. He met his wife Suzanne in Timaru, where he considers 'home'.
Kevin had actually never really thought about being an actor. Since he was but a teenager, he played in various rock bands, one of which, Say Yes to Apes (who came up what that name???), gained a reasonbly large following in the South Island, and recorded three LPs and several singles. His biggest passion though was rugby, and his ambition was to play one day for the All Blacks, the New Zealand national rugby team. But when he suffered a serious concussion, his wife (without telling him, that is) put his name forward to audition for a touring musical Are You Lonesome Tonight? Even though the show itself failed rather miserably, thanks to it Kevin Smith discovered his true calling. Soon afterwards he became the new leading man in the Court Theatre in Christchurch, appeared briefly in some television shows, and finally won his first serious TV role in Gloss, a series sometimes called "the New Zealand Dynasty."
Three times nominated as the best actor or supporting actor - for the New Zealand Film and Television Award in 1994 and 1995, and, after splitting up the awards, for the New Zealand Television Award in 1999 for Lawless - he won once in 1995, for the best supporting role in Marlin Bay.
Did you know that they originally wanted Kevin to play Hercules in the series? Yep, but the evil villan he is, he turned down playing the good guy, only to show up on the show as Iphicles in the second season anyway. So far he has been in twenty three episodes of Hercules: The legendary journies, 24 episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess and 16 episodes of Young Hercules.
