Samora Smallwood is an award winning, classically trained actor, writer, & cool feminist of West
African & Caucasian descent. Samora is fluent in French, proficient in Spanish & a lover of action
who is trained in stage combat, fighting for TV & Film, and archery. She is an elected Councillor at
ACTRA as well as the founder of The Actors Work Studio, an innovative acting studio in Toronto.
Samora’s recent work includes the lead role in Lifetime’s thriller “Death She Wrote”, Star Trek
Discovery, Star Trek Short Treks (in an Emmy award winning episode), The Expanse, American
Gods, Coroner, Shadowhunters, Good Witch, Murdoch Mysteries and an episode of Frankie Drake
Mysteries involving a story close to her heart about white passing & black identity in Canada. Recent
projects also include voice work in Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6, the award-winning feature film “Queen of the
Morning Calm” which premiered at the Whistler Film Festival & is directed by 2020 Canadian Screen
Award nominated Director Gloria Kim.
Upcoming Samora will appear in the highly anticipated OWN/Warner Bros. new series “The Kings of
Napa”, Apple TV’s new sci-fi anthology series “Zone” (working title), is one of the leads on “Angel
Falls Christmas” and is back for Season 2 of “Tokens”. Samora won the “Best Actress” Theatre
Windsor Award for her portrayal of May Henning in Norm Foster’s “The Affections of May” & was
nominated for a 2020 ACTRA award for Best Series Ensemble for her work in “Tokens”. Samora's
passion is telling fresh stories and promoting diversity on-screen and behind the camera. She was
recently a jury member for both The Female Eye Film Festival & The Caprius Film Festival as well as
a selected participant in The Reelworld Film Festival's "Emerging 20" Talent to Watch Program.
Samora is also a passionate public speaker whose recent work includes hosting panels at TIFF, The
Toronto Black Film Festival, Official International Women’s Day, ACTRA Toronto, and the Forest City
Film Festival. She and Gloria Kim have also received development funding for their thriller series,
GONE, from the Canada Council/CBC Creation Accelerator.