Anna Nicole Smith - Film and Television Career

Film and Television Career

In 1994, after a long wish of having an acting career, Smith debuted with a minor role in the screwball comedy film The Hudsucker Proxy. Later the same year she played a supporting role opposite Leslie Nielsen and Fred Ward in the cop comedy film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Though both of these appearances were highly publicized, little was done to further Smith's acting career.

Her first major role was as Colette Dubois, a retired spy seeking revenge for the murder of her husband, in the action/thriller To the Limit (1995). Smith next starred in the direct-to-video "soft porn" action/thriller Skyscraper (1996), which she also produced, as a helicopter pilot, Carrie Wisk, who lands on a high rise building and, upon learning it has been taken over by terrorists, becomes engaged in a deadly fight to save hostages.

Both To the Limit and Skyscraper, and Smith's performances in them, were critically panned. During the course of the litigation over her late husband's estate, her career stalled. Her legal battle, her increasing weight, and her reportedly bizarre behavior made her regular fodder for late night television comedians.

In 2002, after a severe weight-gain, a faltered movie career, and struggling financial problems, Smith debuted in her own reality television series on the E! cable network, The Anna Nicole Show. The series focused on her personal and private life in the manner of other reality shows, such as the ratings hit The Osbournes.

The debut of The Anna Nicole Show was the highest rated series on the network, but critics blasted it and ratings dropped with each successive week. However, it achieved a cult status among some, particularly college fraternities. The show was canceled in February 2004 due to "creative differences," but has retained some life in reruns and on DVD releases.

Smith's next appearance on the big screen was as herself in Wasabi Tuna (2003), about a group of friends who kidnap her dog, Sugar-Pie, on Halloween. She appeared as herself again in Be Cool (2005), a crime/comedy about the film and music industries that stars John Travolta, Uma Thurman and The Rock. She produced and starred as "Lucy" in Illegal Aliens, a sci-fi/comedy about beautiful space aliens saving the earth from evil. The film is a mixture of the 1970s television drama series Charlie's Angels and the sci-fi film Men in Black.