Early Life
Smith was born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith on July 3, 1964 in Paris, France. Her father, Joseph Smith, worked for United Press International in Paris and moved to Washington, D.C., United States in 1966, where he became The Washington Post's first official obituary editor. Her mother, Martha Mayor, was a paper conservator for the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian Institution. Smith's parents later divorced. Smith labeled her family "upper crust and reserved". As a child, Smith was often mocked because of her unusual voice. Smith has stated: "I've sounded pretty much the same way since I was six. Maybe a little deeper now." She made her acting debut in a sixth grade play.
Read more about this topic: Yeardley Smith
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.”
—Eudora Welty (b. 1909)
“I describe family values as responsibility towards others, increase of tolerance, compromise, support, flexibility. And essentially the things I call the silent song of life—the continuous process of mutual accommodation without which life is impossible.”
—Salvador Minuchin (20th century)