Maxwell Highsmith

Max, born in 1964 and a native of Hempstead, New York, grew up loving lacrosse. He was always too small for football. He never had the hands for basketball and could never learn the complexities it took for baseball. With cross-country running as his only athletic skill, lacrosse and Max fell in love. His love for America's first team sport remains to this day. He hopes to be "tip of spear" that will push Lacrosse as an Olympic sport. Max, a non-graduated alum of the University of South Carolina, is a military veteran of two services. In Feb 2004, his U.S. Army Reserve unit was federalized for deployment as a part of "Task Force Eagle's Talon" but his unit (310th PERS GROUP-Columbia, SC) never made it to meet the Task Force in Kuwait. He is currently still unsure why but definitely believes in divine intervention. As a service member; he was an I.T. Field Help Desk leader, a qualified combat medic, a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), M249 Light Machine Gun operator and a squad leader. He also served in the U. S. Navy aboard (2) nuclear powered submarines. In fact, he was a submarine-qualified Inertial Systems Technician and made three submarine patrols. FYI: ask him to re-tell the whale story and about the dummy nuclear missile he "fired" when you meet him. He also served aboard an Oceanographic Research vessel with NOAA scientists for 2 years. His total military service time is 17 years. He is very proud of his military service. As an actor, he is looking for bigger film and television roles. Currently his resume boasts a two smaller television roles and several regional commercials. His acting philosophy is to respond analytically and intellectually and instinctively to every piece while exploring space, time, physicality and relationships in unique and creative ways. He is considered a director's actor, considered a good ensemble member and takes direction well. Max has about 150 stage/ theatre performances in the SE region which-by the way- he thoroughly enjoys. His stage resume boasts these roles; Macbeth (Macbeth), Tom Robinson (To Kill a Mockingbird), Crooks-The Stable Buck (Of Mice and Men), Jamal al-Harith (Guantanamo-Honor Bound), George Murchison (Raisin in the Sun), Duke of Cornwall (Much Ado about Nothing), Lt. Bicarat (The Three Musketeers), Delbert Tibbs (The Exonerated), Purlie/Understudy, Non-performed (Purlie the Musical), LCPL Harold Dawson (A Few Good Men), Yeoman Henry Quale (South Pacific), Dasher (The Eight Reindeer Monologues), Morty Hollander (California Suite) and Professor Grant Wiggins (A Lesson before Dying). His filmic resume boasts several independent festival shorts and a SC role in a story about Modjeska Montieth Simkins for SCETV. He is proud to have worked with Cris Griffin (TM) and with Nagi Tumaini (TM) within the same power-house film. Both actors will be around for a long-time. Max is grieved by the loss of another Columbia, SC acting native (Lee Thompson Young-August 19, 2013). As a writer, Max has written (3) screenplays. One of them did well @ Sundance 2012. Another did not make the cut in 2013 Search for America's Newest Scriptwriter Contest in The AFE Scriptwriter Contest Submission, the collaboration between ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment and Will Smith/James Lassiter (Overbrook Entertainment, Inc.) The last screenplay is a remake of "Three the Hard Way" ( the 1974 action blaxploitation film starring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly ) as a modern day superhero franchise trilogy with modern-day superheroes. He hopes that someone would seize the opportunity to portray serious African-American superheroes in modern day team-up.