Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy Clerks (1994), in which he appeared as the character Silent Bob. Smith's first several films were mostly set in his home state of New Jersey, and while not strictly sequential, they frequently feature crossover plot elements