Why Thomas From The Voyeurs Looks So Familiar
The newest thriller addition to Amazon Prime Video is a suspenseful film that calls back to classics like Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and the 1984 erotic thriller "Body Double." With similar themes of obsession, lust, and suspense, "The Voyeurs" follows a couple named Pippa (Sydney Sweeney) and Thomas (Justice Smith) who move into a new apartment that features huge floor-to-ceiling windows throughout.
Soon, Pippa and Thomas realize they can see straight into another couple's apartment across the street, and the two find themselves becoming more involved in the unsuspecting couple's life. Although Thomas realizes they've gone too far and starts feeling uneasy about looking in on the lives of others, Pippa remains entranced, and things only go downhill from there.
While you may recognize the actress who plays Pippa from shows like "Euphoria" and "The White Lotus," her on-screen partner, Justice Smith, has an impressive list of roles himself. Here's where you've likely seen him before.
Justice Smith has been in some popular romance movies
One of Justice Smith's first notable film roles was in the 2015 romantic dramedy "Paper Towns." The film follows a boy named Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff) who goes on a search for his elusive childhood crush Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne), and learns more about himself and his other friendships in the process. One of Q's best friends is Marcus "Radar" Lincoln, played by Smith.
Following his supporting role in "Paper Towns," Smith appeared in the 2020 romantic drama "All the Bright Places" alongside Elle Fanning. He played the role of Theodore Finch, a troubled teen who befriends and soon falls in love with the equally troubled Violet Markey (Fanning).
In an interview with Collider, Smith spoke about his feelings upon reading the script for the first time. "What spoke to me was how we're not really trying to say anything specific," he explained. "We don't have the answers. It just contributes to the larger conversation. It's not black and white. There's nothing cut and dry about the film, and that spoke to us."
Justice Smith got down in a groovy Netflix series
Smith's big break was in 2016, when he landed the lead role in the popular musical drama series "The Get Down" on Netflix. He played Ezekiel "Zeke" Figuero, a bookish teen from the Bronx with a passion for music and a desire to make it big. The show takes place in the '70s, and followed Zeke and his friends as they learned more about disco, hip-hop, and the music industry as a whole.
Smith spoke to Vulture about his time on "The Get Down," and specifically what drew him to the role of Zeke. "I had just come from 'Paper Towns,' where I played this nerdy, upper middle class character, and I was like, 'I want to do something different,'" he revealed. "That's what drew me to it. I did [the audition] and I got a callback and I met [show creator] Baz Luhrmann. He had a really clear vision. I booked it and I screamed. I was really happy I booked it, but I was happier because it meant I was good. It meant I was doing it right."
Although "The Get Down" only lasted one season, it was named one of the best shows of 2017 by Vulture. Smith's performance was also praised by Variety as "preternaturally brilliant," and they noted "Smith is consistently grounded in his character's emotions, depicting both typical teenage-boy angst and the era- and location-specific yearning for something bigger and better."
Justice Smith joined the Jurassic Park franchise
Like many successful actors before him, Smith landed a role in a decades-long franchise with a devoted fan base. In 2018, he appeared in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" as Franklin Webb, the non-profit Dinosaur Protection Group's systems analyst and computer expert who helps Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) track down the remaining endangered dinosaurs.
Since the "Jurassic Park" franchise is so monumental, Smith had a bit of adjusting to do to prepare for his role, especially when it came down to working with green screens and dinosaurs that weren't really there. He explained some of the hurdles he faced to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, "You feel more confined as an artist. There are certain setups that require you to run for your life from something that is not there, while being conscious to not hit the camera or not bend forward because your harness is still on underneath your costume, but still remembering to have the full emotional weight of 'Holy s**** I'm about to die.' And it only ends up being half a second in the movie."
Regardless, Smith nailed his role, and is set to appear in the upcoming sequel "Jurassic World: Dominion" in 2022.
Justice Smith cracked the case in Detective Pikachu
One of the most highly anticipated live-action films in 2019 was "Pokémon Detective Pikachu," which ended up becoming the second highest-grossing video game film adaptation in history, according to Box Office Mojo. Smith played the lead role of Tim Goodman, a young man working in the insurance industry who previously dreamed of becoming a Pokémon trainer. After learning his estranged father Harry (Ryan Reynolds), a police chief, was killed, Tim travels to his apartment to clear out his things.
Upon arriving, Tim meets his father's detective partner, the adorable Pikachu (also voiced by Reynolds). While Tim can clearly understand Pikachu, others only hear his iconic "Pika" squeaks. Tim then joins Pikachu to uncover the truth about Harry's death, as well as bigger mysteries that plague their city.
"Pokémon Detective Pikachu" earned mostly positive reviews, as did Smith for his portrayal as Tim Goodman. Scott Mendelson of Forbes noted that "the Rob Letterman-directed feature works as a character play, as Justice Smith gives a terrific 'acting against nothing' star turn ... This is Smith's movie through-and-through, even if you're just there for the various creatures."
Justice Smith currently stars in Generation
As of March 2021, Smith has played a main role on the HBO Max dramedy series "Generation" as Chester, an openly gay student with tons of confidence and style. "Generation" — stylized as "Genera+ion" — follows high schoolers in Orange County, California, as they come of age and grapple with their friendships, sexualities, and families.
Smith recently revealed that he is queer himself, and expressed his joy at getting to play a character on a show that represents a broad range of sexual orientations. He explained to Harper's Bazaar that he feels "Generation" offers an authentic look at queer youth culture, saying, "It also felt very authentic to queerness, and young queerness, and young queers of color and how they interact with one another, but also to Generation Z. That's really what we're trying to showcase: the way sexuality is dealt with in this new generation."
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Smith also gushed, "I'm so happy to be on this show that is gay as f***. All the characters are gay as hell! I mean, not all of them, but I like to say that. But to just like, give a show to queers by queers. Like sure, straight people, you can watch it, too. But for so long, queer people have had to try to find their like representation in straight material. And, like, now it's kind of the other way around."