Barbara Smith (actress)

Barbara Joan Smith was born in 1997 in Wandsworth, London.^[1] Her first acting credit was in the 2010 short film Devil's Redemption.^[2] After various other short film roles, her first television role was in 2017, when she portrayed Suki Stock in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.^[1] Her character was involved in a storyline where she was found to be selling her mother's medication to fund her college course.^[3] In 2018, Smith appeared in an episode of BBC's Call the Midwife as Josie Winterlee.^[4] That same year, she featured in the 2018 action film I Am Vengeance, her first professional film credit.^[5]

In April 2019, Smith appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Ellie.^[6] A guest role,^[7] her character was a student at the University of Oxford who tells Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) that she gets through her revision by taking ADHD medication.^[8] She then appeared in fellow BBC drama series Casualty as Kailey Clark.^[9] Later that year, she starred in White Girl as Beth, which was nominated for Best Short film at the BFI London Film Festival.^[10] She also had her first professional stage role as the leading role in Dear Elizabeth at the Gate Theatre.^[11] Then in 2020, Smith returned to theatre, this time in Unburied at the Bunker Theatre.^[1]

In 2021, Smith returned to EastEnders, this time in the role of Dana Monroe. Her casting was announced in March 2021, when it was confirmed that she would be joining as a love interest for established character Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell).^[12] She was initially contracted in a recurring role on the soap, but was eventually promoted to a regular cast member.^[1] The soap also introduced a family for Smith's character, casting Ross Boatman as father Harvey and Charlie Wernham as brother Aaron.^[13] Shortly after her introduction, Smith was nominated in the newcomer categories at both the I Talk Telly Awards^[14] and the Digital Spy Reader Awards for her portrayal of Dana.^[15] A scene of Bobby stopping Dana from leaving Walford was also nominated for Feel Good Moment at the 2021 Inside Soap Awards.^[16] She remained on EastEnders until 2022.^[17] Following her exit, she has appeared in the film Members Club in 2024 and in a recurring role on the Hulu series The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.^[18]