Editing Kevin Smith (section)

==Early life==
Kevin Patrick Smith was born on August 2, 1970,<ref>{{cite tweet|number=1024989626740748288|user=ThatKevinSmith|title=Today I turn 48 yrs old ...|last=Smith|first=Kevin|date=2018-08-02|access-date=2023-10-08}}</ref> in [[Red Bank, New Jersey]],<ref name=filmef>Note: At least one source, Yahoo! Movies, gives birthplace as [[Highlands, New Jersey]].</ref> the son of Grace (née Schultz), a homemaker, and Donald E. Smith (1936–2003),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3936217/|title=Donald E. Smith|website=IMDb|access-date=2020-02-22}}</ref> a [[postal worker]].<ref name=Playboy>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Talty|title=The Clerk, the Girl and the Corduroy Hand Job|magazine=[[Playboy]]|date=December 1998|volume=45|number=12|pages=150–152, 216–220}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://movies.yahoo.com/person/kevin-smith-1970/biography.html | title= Kevin Smith – Biography | website= [[Yahoo! Movies]]| access-date= July 10, 2012 | archive-date=October 13, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121013130852/http://movies.yahoo.com/person/kevin-smith-1970/biography.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Kevin|last=Smith|url=https://archive.org/details/toughshtlifeadvi0000smit_e0z0|url-access=registration|quote=Kevin Smith Schultz grace.|title=Tough Sh*t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good|date=2012|publisher=Gotham Books|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-59240-689-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/toughshtlifeadvi0000smit_e0z0/page/3 3]|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> He has two siblings: an older sister, Virginia, and an older brother, Donald Jr. He was raised in a [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]] household<ref>As stated in an interview on the Clerks 10th Anniversary DVD.</ref><ref name="chriv">{{cite web|first=Jeffrey|last=Overstreet|author-link= Jeffrey Overstreet|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/marchweb-only/kevinsmith.html|title=A Warm & Fuzzy Kevin Smith?|work=[[Christianity Today]]|date=March 26, 2004|access-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070413062748/http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/kevinsmith.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = April 13, 2007}}</ref> in the nearby clamming town of [[Highlands, New Jersey|Highlands]].

Smith's childhood was scheduled around his father's late shifts at the post office. His father grew to despise his job, which greatly influenced Smith, who remembers his father finding it difficult on some days to get up and go to work. Smith vowed never to work at something that he did not enjoy.<ref name="Playboy" />

Smith attended [[Henry Hudson Regional High School]],<ref name="NYT2006">{{cite news|first=Kevin|last=Cahillane|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/nyregion/movies/for-the-stars-of-clerks-its-take-two.html|title=For the Stars of 'Clerks,' It's Take Two|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York City|date=July 16, 2006|access-date=February 18, 2022|quote=Mr. Anderson's film career was a happy accident. While he and Mr. Smith graduated together in 1988 from Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands, they were not close until Mr. Anderson began to rent movies from the video store where Mr. Smith worked.}}</ref> where he was a [[Academic grading in the United States|B and C]] student, videotaped basketball games, and produced ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''-style [[sketch comedy]]. An overweight teen, he developed into a comedic observer of life to socialize with friends and girls.<ref name="Playboy" /> After high school, Smith attended [[The New School]] in New York City, but did not graduate.<ref>{{cite web|first=K. Thor|last=Jensen|url=http://www.ifc.com/2014/11/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-kevin-smith|title=7 Things We Bet You Didn't Know About Kevin Smith|website=[[Independent Film Channel]]|date=November 19, 2014|access-date=July 1, 2018|archive-date=July 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712015817/https://www.ifc.com/2014/11/7-things-you-didnt-know-about-kevin-smith}}</ref> Smith met [[Jason Mewes]] while working at a youth center; they became friends after discovering a mutual interest in comic books.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_4-1wKNxDw| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/M_4-1wKNxDw| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes at Vulture Festival 2015| date=June 9, 2015|via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>