Brian Michael Smith

Brian Michael Smith (born January 29, 1983) is an American actor known for his performances on television as well as his advocacy for trans representation in the media. Early life Smith was raised on the east side of Ann Arbor, Michigan by his mother, Ingrid Smith, an event planner and Ford Motor Company employee, with the support of a close-knit family. He and his mother spent his early years living with aunts, cousins, and a brother. Although assigned female at birth, he identified and was perceived as male throughout his childhood. He challenged pressures to conform to his assigned gender role through performance and athletics. While attending Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, he played defensive end and fullback on the boys football team during the fall, and set records in shot put and pole vaulting on the girls track & field team in the spring. On September 17, 1999, during a game at Traverse City, Smith became the first person assigned female at birth to score a varsity touchdown in the State of Michigan. Career His role as Toine Wilkins, a transgender police officer, in Ava DuVernay's Queen Sugar, (OWN), launched him into a series of high-profile roles including political strategist Pierce Williams in Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q (2019) cast. Smith became the first black openly trans man in a series regular role on network television when he was cast as firefighter Paul Strickland in FOX's 9-1-1: Lone Star (2020). Other appearances include NBC's Chicago P.D., HBO's Girls and Showtime's thriller Homeland.