Jasmine Curtis-Smith is a Filipino-Australian actress, dancer, writer and model. She is best known for her roles in Transit (2014), Baka Bukas (2016) and Siargao (2018).

JASMINE CURTIS-SMITH BIOGRAPHY: EARLY LIFE, AGE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Jasmine Curtis-Smith was born on April 6, 1994 (Jasmine Curtis-Smith: Age 28) in Melbourne, Australia to Carmencita Ojales and James Curtis-Smith. She has one older sister, actress Anne Curtis, and a younger brother, Thomas James.

She studied at St. Paul College when she lived in the Philippines before moving back to Australia in 2005. Curtis-Smith graduated high school at Loyola College.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Curtis-Smith revealed how she started acting.

“Well, I was exposed very early on to the entertainment industry through my sister,” she told uInterview at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023. “She was the one who was discovered first when we were taking a break in the Philippines and so because I was always tagging along on her work, my mom eventually made me join auditions and I kind of tried away in my teenage years but after high school, I got an acting offer and I decided, ‘hey you know what, why not. Let’s give it a shot.’ And then I think it was only three years into my career and when I did my first actual film I felt like, ‘Oh my gosh, I think I found what I really want to do, I love love working on independent films, I’ve found my niche in our country, I’ve found the niche or industry.’ I just thrive on it so much and I feel like I share the passion that all the other creatives have when they’re working on a project in the independent scene.”

“And it was also in my first Film Festival experience in the Philippines that I felt like, ‘Oh my God, like I’ve got my calling, I think this is it and I think I found my backbone in the industry,’” Curtis-Smith continued. “So I just kept going from there and I kept challenging my management to allow me all the time to make independent films because it’s always a good budget and it’s all about the story, it’s all about connecting and making something that’s worthwhile and you’re not fazed by the celebrity-ness of it all. Like it’s really what the core is, that you’re trying to tell the story and the heart, so from there I just kept going and now we’re here at Sundance!”

JASMINE CURTIS-SMITH BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

In 2010, Curtis-Smith signed a three-year contract with TV5 to be one of the network’s Primetime Princesses. In 2013, Curtis-Smith signed another three-year contract with TV5.

Some of her acting roles with the network include the shows Ang Utol Kong Hoodlum (2011), Nadito Ako (2012), Undercover (2013), Jasmine (2014), My Fair Lady (2015) and Ang Panday (2016).

In 2013 Curtis-Smith won the Outstanding Breakthrough Performance by an Actress from the Golden Screen TV Awards for her role in Ang Utol Kong Hoodlum.

Curtis-Smith’s film credits include Puti (2012), Transit (2013), Dementia (2014), Resureksyon (2015), Baka Bukas (2016), Siargao (2017) and Culion (2019).

For her role as Yael in Transit, Curtis-Smith won Best Supporting Actress at the 9th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress from the Golden Screen Awards.

In 2016 she won the Best Actress award at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival for her role in Baka Bukas.

For Curtis-Smith’s role in Siargao, she won Best Supporting Actress at the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival and at the 36th FAP Luna Awards.

JASMINE CURTIS-SMITH BIOGRAPHY: IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN

In My Mother’s Skin follows the story of a rich Filipino family in 1945 who fears the nearby Japanese soldiers and what they might do to get the family’s riches. While the father, Aldo, leaves the family behind to search for help, the mother becomes deadly sick. In search of help, the youngest daughter, Tala, decides to trust the flesh-eating fairy (Curtis-Smith) who wishes to eat the whole family. 

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Curtis-Smith sat down to discuss what drew her to the story. 

“First of all, I definitely love horror films,” Curtis-Smith began. “I have made a few in the past and I’ve always been excited, like seeing how doing it on set and how it translates to the bigger screen especially when the audience finally watches it complete with the sound effects and you know all the different like slow takes that eventually just creeps up on you. I love that. That’s number one, but number two was really the script by Kenneth [Dagatan], it was just so lively and the fact that it was set in the ’40s and the fairy in itself was such a character that felt surreal but at the same time real enough because of what we were all going through in the pandemic so I just thought it would be interesting to play something that wasn’t human and find a way to incorporate those pieces like the pandemic, the fear, and the claustrophobia through her and through that entity.”

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