Charise Castro Smith

Charise Castro Smith (born August 30, 1983) is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, producer, and director. She is best known for co-writing and co-directing the Disney animated film Encanto.

Personal life Castro Smith is from Miami, Florida, where she was raised in a Cuban American family. She attended Brown University as an undergraduate student and later the Yale School of Drama, where she earned her MFA in acting.

Education After receiving her BA from Brown, Castro Smith attended the Yale School of Drama for her Master's in Fine Arts (MFA). From this, Paula Vogel, head of the playwrighting program at the time, began to act as a mentor to her. This led her to embrace playwriting as a career, which led to writing and producing for television. She notably wants to create more complex, dimensional roles for women on stage in leading roles. and 1970s horror films.

In 2011, Smith's play Boomcracklefly was produced at the Milgaro Theater in Portland, Oregon. The Hunchback of Seville was inspired by Smith's interest in how Americans handle the history of Columbus and the massacres that resulted from his actions. The complex character of Queen Isabella stems from Smith's own desire to play Richard III in Shakespeare's Richard III.

Smith's most produced work, Feathers and Teeth, was featured at the Goodman Theater's New Stage Festival (2013–2014). It premiered in 2018 at Yale Repertory Theatre, starring Jennifer Paredes, Maria-Christina Oliveras, and directed by Laurie Woolery.

Television career In 2015, Castro Smith made her television writing debut with the Lifetime series Devious Maids. In 2016 she served as both a writer and producer on the Fox television series The Exorcist, as well as writer and co-executive producer of the ABC pilot The Death of Sofia Valdez. In 2018 she went on to serve as writer and supervising producer for the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House. And in 2019, Castro Smith wrote and co-executive produced the Starz series Sweetbitter.

In February 2024 it was announced that Academy award nominee America Ferrera would star in and executive produce an Amazon Prime Video series based on the Katz' 1990 book Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta. The series will be scripted by Castro Smith and co-executive produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Plan B Entertainment.

Films Castro Smith made her film debut in a Walt Disney Animation Studios film, titled Encanto, centered on a Colombian girl who lacks magical powers in spite of her family having them.

Artist credits

Playwriting credits Estrella Cruz [The Junkyard Queen] (Yale Cabaret (2008) / Ars Nova ANT Fest (2011) / Halcyon Theatre (2016)) Boomcracklefly (Milagro Theater) The Hunchback of Seville (Brown Trinity Playwrights Rep/Washington Ensemble Theatre) Feathers and Teeth (Goodman Theater in New Stage Festivals (2013–2014)) That High Lonesome Sound (Acting Apprentice Company (2014–2015)) [co-writer] Washeteria (Soho Rep, one episode (2015)) [co-writer] El Huracán (La Jolla Playhouse's DNA New Work Series (2016))

Acting credits Chain of Fools (The Guthrie Theater) (2009)

TV producing/writing credits Devious Maids (2015) "Talk of the Town" "The Turning Point" The Exorcist (2016) "Chapter Seven: Father of Lies" The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez (2016) The Haunting of Hill House (2018) Sweetbitter (2019)

Film credits Encanto - 2021 - co-director, story, and screenplay