NBC has found its Little Orphan Annie: Celina Smith, 12, landed the title role of NBC’s Annie Live!
The network announced Celina beat out tons of other young hopefuls in the nationwide search for Annie Live! Smith, best known for her supporting role on Tyler Perry’s Nickelodeon sitcom Young Dylan as Rebecca Wilson, won after a national search.
In a statement, Celina said,
“It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of the talented young ladies who have played Annie before me and I can’t wait to start this journey.”
“Well first, we sent in a tape,” Smith recalled on Today. “Then, I got a callback. So then we sent in more tapes and more tapes, and then, we got the news that I go the part.”
Previously, Smith played Young Nala in the national touring company of The Lion King.
Who Is Celina Smith?
Celina Smith is an actress known for Young Dylan (2020), Annie Live! (2021) and 2020 Toy Awards (2020). Since the age of seven, she has been performing in the entertainment field. She shared that she attended AGI Entertainment's performing arts classes in Marietta, Georgia, and five years later, she got cast in Annie Live!
Celina, who appeared as Young Nala, traveled across the U.S. in the national touring company of The Lion King. She also appeared on Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan, a sitcom on Nickelodeon.
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Smith has also appeared in the 2020 Toy Awards. In addition, she can also sing, dance, act. On her YouTube channel, she has uploaded covers of popular songs of Billie Eilish and Meghan Trainor.
As per her accolades, Smith was given a Young Artist Academy Award nomination for the best recurring actor as Young Dylan.
As of 2021, she has made an estimated net worth of $300K.
Family & Background
Celina Smith, born on 12th May 2008, hails from Atlanta, Georgia. She is the daughter of Craig Garcia and Natarsha.
Both her parents are entrepreneurs and are the co-founders of the talent agency AGI Entertainment, established in June 2000. Her father, Craig, started in the entertainment business at 18. He met his wife Natasha in 1996 and started their business together.
Moreover, Celina’s mother, Natarsha, has solid 20+ years of expertise in “triple threat” talent development and the ability to identify and refine talent.
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Celina’s parents celebrated their 23rd marriage anniversary on 4th April 2021.
More about her family, she has a lovely grandmother Barbara Hardy Kinder. She predicted that her granddaughter would be cast in Annie Live!
Siblings
Celina has a brother named Brandin Jay and a sister named Anaya Cheyenne, the god-daughter of her parents. Her brother worked as Creative Director with their parents at AG/Entertainment. Meanwhile, her sister is Anaya Cheyenne, an actress, singer, dancer, and model. She is also recognized as a member of the Pink Heart band.
Facts On Celina
- Celina boasted 10.3K followers on her Instagram account and 4.5K followers over TikTok. Meanwhile, her YouTube channel has 478 subscribers.
- As of now, she stands at the height of 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 meters). She has Black hair, brown eyes, and fuller cheeks.
