Andrew M. Smith(II)

Andrew Martin Smith was born in London, England on April 14th 1955. His father George Smith served in the Guards Armoured Division in Normandy during the Second World War and went on to write the novel The Unfinished Battle. Andrew Smith attended Catford Boys Technical Secondary School before training as a teacher at Goldsmith's College. It was here that he first began to work with the Nigerian filmmaker Faith Isiakpere. On leaving college in 1976 he went to Hollywood, where he was mentored by the studio screenwriter Charlie Warren. It was here that he met his first tarantula spider. On returning back to the United Kingdom he began work as a Science Teacher and wrote the academic reference books, The Tarantula Classification & Identification Guide 1986, Baboon Spiders - Tarantulas of Africa 1990 and Tarantula Spiders of the USA & Mexico 1994. In that period he became an Associate of The Natural History Museum London, Founding Member of The British Tarantula Society and a Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society London. In the early 1990's, alongside Tim Fitzgerald he established the Natural History Film Production Company - Fitzgerald Video Productions and made the pioneering field documentaries Desert Tarantulas 1995 and Earth Tigers 1999. In 2013, in partnership with Sara Baladi he established the pay/download Natural History Download Platform - Lovetarantulas. The first feature length documentary 1640 Brazil - The First Tarantula Spider was made in 2016. A second feature length documentary Brachypelma - The Red Leg Tarantulas of Mexico was shot in 2017 and is in post production. Throughout this period Andrew Smith continued writing for the African film Producer/Director Faith Isiakpere and was the principal screenwriter of the South African feature film - The Algiers Murders 2012. Winner of the Main Prize of the Detectivefest - Moscow 2013. A second feature film Harry's Game is in post production. Andrew Smith and Faith Isiakpere are at present working on screenplay of the Gaby Magomola book. From Robben Island to Wall Street published 2009. He is married to Elizabeth Smith and lives in London. He has traveled extensively and filmed and collected tarantulas throughout the tropics.