If you are looking for a sarcastic best friend, grad/med student, lawyer, social worker, doctor, or mom type for your next project, then let me introduce you...

Serena, a NYC area based actress, was born and raised in New Jersey, and has been involved in the performing arts since she can remember. 

To date Serena has worked on multiple projects that include television, voiceover, a web series, short & feature films, a YouTube campaign commercial, as well as various local & regional theater and musical theater​ productions.

​​In 2019, Serena joined the New Jersey Creative Arts Collaborative (NJCAC), which is a non-profit organization whose goal is to inform, inspire, and illuminate artists of color by sharing and broadening cultural awareness through the creation of original content and partnership opportunities. 

In 2024, she wrote her first short film script and in 2025 received BEST SHORT SCREENPLAY NY HONORABLE MENTION at its first screenwriting contest entry, officially adding the title of writer to her resume.​
RECENT PROJECTS

UP NEXT: a staged reading of THE STY OF THE BLIND PIG

​Holmdel Theatre Company proudly presents a staged reading of the powerful dramatic play The Sty of the Blind Pig, produced in partnership with the New Jersey Creative Arts Collaborative (NJCAC) in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Black History Month.

Directed by Diane L. Parker

Set in 1950s Chicago, The Sty of the Blind Pig captures a Black family’s fragile balance as an unexpected visitor stirs buried hopes and long-held wounds. A 1971 New York Drama Desk winner, the play is intimate, lyrical, and quietly explosive, revealing how faith, desire, and change collide in one small apartment.

Monday, March 23rd
- Doors open at 6:30 pm, featuring soul-stirring music by Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer Junior Mack.
- The reading begins at 7 p.m.

GRIEF: a short screenplay

​Written by Serena Marie Smith
- (2025) New Jersey Web Festival (NJ WebFest) *Outstanding Script Nominee 
- (2025) NJ Film Awards *Best Short Screenplay Winner
- (2025) Lovesick Film Festival

STAY INSIDE: a short screenplay

Written by Serena Marie Smith
- (2025) New York Screenwriting Awards *Best Short Screenplay NY Honorable Mention 
- (2025) Montreal Women Film Festival *Best Short Screenplay Nominee
- (2025) Newark International Film Festival
- (2025) New Jersey Web Festival (NJ WebFest) *Outstanding Script Nominee 
- (2025) NJ Film Awards *Best Short Screenplay Finalist
- (2025) New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition & Film Awards *Best Screenplay Quarter-Finalist
- (2025) Los Angeles Film & Documentary Awards
- (2025) Macoproject Film Festival *Best Short Screenplay Honorable Mention

JERSEY BIRDIES: a feature film (post-production)

​"Jersey Birdies" is a New Jersey-homegrown, female-led comedy with heart that explores themes of grief, anxiety, family, love and friendship. A story about people coming together feels just right for a world digging out of a pandemic.

When the Jersey Birdies women's softball team faces elimination from the league, Maria must find a way to balance her own life-struggles to save the group founded by her late sister. ​

Role: Kim Owens, Jersey Birdies Pitcher

BAYOU'S WRATH: an audio drama
"Bayou’s Wrath: The Audio Drama” is a Black supernatural fictional story inspired by America’s holocaust. Yes, the United States of America!

Shortly after the Civil War, former slaves were forced into a sinkhole in Natchez Mississippi. Historians estimate at least twenty-thousand Blacks were led to their deaths by Confederate and Union soldiers, just beneath a grove where wild peaches grow — known as the Devil’s Punchbowl. The lucky ones drowned right away.

It’s a piece of American history that was swept under the rug. Our goal is for you to be entertained, informed, and mobilized into action as more and more protections for marginalized people, women, and programs for their advancement are being rolled back. By fighting to save them we save ourselves!

Role: Michelle

Listen to Season 1 on your favorite podcast platform!
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