Kerr Smith: Dawson’s Creek, Final Destination, and His New Memoir

Few TV characters of the late 1990s arrived with as much cultural weight as Jack McPhee, and Kerr Smith, who played him from 1998 to 2003, later built a quieter career across horror films, soaps, and network dramas instead of chasing another Jack McPhee. Now, People has announced his memoir, I Don’t Wanna Wait: My Life on Dawson’s Creek, a title that nods to the show’s theme song.

Born: March 9, 1972 · Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA · Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) · Notable role: Jack McPhee on Dawson’s Creek

Ten facts, one pattern: the Dawson’s Creek years still anchor every biography written about him.

What is Kerr Smith famous for?

The short answer is one character on one show — but the career that followed is more varied than most people remember.

Dawson’s Creek as Jack McPhee

• Jack McPhee was a principal character on Dawson’s Creek, played by Smith from the 1998 premiere through the 2003 finale (IMDb, text).
• Jack’s storyline as a gay teenager made the role a reference point for LGBTQ+ representation in network drama, a fact that Encyclopaedia Britannica documents in its biography of Smith.

That level of visibility came with pressure. Jack wasn’t the comic-relief friend; his storylines placed him at the center of some of the show’s most discussed episodes, and the audience followed. Smith carried that weight while the series became a pop-culture machine of its own.

Final Destination and the horror run

• Smith played Carter Horton in the 2000 film Final Destination (TMDb, text).
• Us Weekly’s biography also counts The Forsaken and My Bloody Valentine among his later film credits (Us Weekly).

The pivot made sense. Horror and thriller roles offered something Dawson’s Creek couldn’t: a chance to play someone other than the nice guy, for a completely different audience.

Later television work

• His television credits after Dawson’s Creek include E-Ring, Charmed, Life Unexpected, and a 2021 arc on The Resident, per Us Weekly’s biography cited above.

That’s not a career built on one character — it’s a career built on being reliable: film franchises, genre pieces, procedural guest arcs, and the occasional family drama.

What this means: Smith’s fame is anchored to a single role, but his durability comes from everything he did after it.

The implication: Smith’s fame rests on one role, but his steady career after Dawson’s Creek shows an actor who chose longevity over repeat fame.

What is Kerr Smith doing now?

The memoir: “I Don’t Wanna Wait”

• People (text) reports Smith’s forthcoming memoir is titled I Don’t Wanna Wait: My Life on Dawson’s Creek.
• A 2026 alumni spotlight from the University of Vermont Foundation says the book was nearing release.

That title is a wink at the Paula Cole song that opened every episode of the show — a signal that Smith knows exactly what the audience is here for. For a man who spent years answering questions about one famous scene, the memoir is a chance to set the record straight on his own terms.

Readers who enjoy tracking TV actors after their shows end should also check out Eddie Cahill Now: Current Projects, Net Worth, Wife and Family in 2025, another actor profile built around life after a breakout series.

Pilot, brewmaster, and a life outside acting

• Smith earned a business administration degree from the University of Vermont, per Us Weekly’s biography.
• His UVM Foundation (text) alumni profile describes him as a licensed pilot and brewmaster.

That combination reads less like a career pivot and more like a third act chosen deliberately: business school taught him the logistics, flying gave him the escape, brewing gave him a craft. Acting, meanwhile, became one project among several rather than the whole identity.

The pattern: Smith has built a life where Dawson’s Creek is a chapter, not the whole book — and the memoir is his way of writing the next chapter himself.

Is Kerr Smith married now?

The Harmoni Everett years

• Smith married actress Harmoni Everett in 2003, and the couple divorced in 2009 (Us Weekly, text).

The honest answer to “Is Kerr Smith married now?” is: not according to the public record. Us Weekly’s biography documents exactly one marriage, and it ended more than fifteen years ago. If he has remarried, neither he nor any reliable publication has made it public.

Why this matters: the question keeps getting asked because audiences still read Smith through Jack McPhee’s romantic storylines — even though Smith has kept his own romantic life almost entirely off the record.

Does Kerr Smith have any children?

A deliberately private family life

• Us Weekly’s biography of Smith documents his 2003 marriage and 2009 divorce, and lists no children (Us Weekly, text).
• No public record reviewed for this profile documents a son or daughter.

Absence of evidence isn’t proof, but it is consistent: Smith has spent his post-Dawson’s career keeping his family off the grid. In an era where celebrity parenting is a content category, that silence is itself a statement.

The trade-off: fans want the personal details, but Smith has never owed the public more than he has chosen to share.

Who did Kerr Smith kiss on Dawson’s Creek?

The Ethan kiss and what it changed

• In the season-three finale (2000), Jack McPhee shares a romantic kiss with a young man named Ethan (Encyclopaedia Britannica, text).
• Britannica describes the scene as a watershed TV moment.

The scene aired on The WB at a moment when network TV still treated gay characters as guest attractions rather than leads. Jack was a main character, and the kiss wasn’t a stunt — it was part of his established storyline. The moment has been referenced ever since as a benchmark for LGBTQ+ representation on teen television.

Jack McPhee’s storylines and legacy

• Jack remained part of Dawson’s Creek through the series finale in 2003 (Us Weekly, text).
• His other close on-screen relationship was with Jen Lindley, played by Michelle Williams, one of the show’s central characters.

The legacy is bigger than the moment itself. As Britannica’s biography notes, the storyline remains a landmark in the show’s history — and the title of Smith’s own memoir acknowledges the connection directly. Cast retrospectives like Starsky and Hutch Cast: Where Are They Now show how rarely actors get a second character as defining as Jack McPhee.

The implication: the kiss that made headlines in 2000 is the reason Smith’s memoir gets announced in 2026 — the actor finally gets to narrate the moment everyone else has been narrating for him.

The pattern: Smith’s career has been defined by that single milestone, but his memoir allows him to finally control the story.

Kerr Smith’s career timeline

Six milestones, one pattern: the career never stopped, but the spotlight moved on.

The through line is continuity. Whether it was a horror franchise, a family drama, or a network medical procedural, Smith kept showing up while the world around him changed.

The pattern: no long gaps, no scandal, no reinvention — just a steady run of guest slots, genre films, and eventually a completely different set of ambitions.

Confirmed facts and what’s unclear

The public record on Smith is thick on career and thin on family — so it helps to separate the two.

Why this matters: the gap between what is documented and what is rumored is unusually wide for an actor of his profile — and the memoir is the one place where Smith can close it himself.

Voices on Kerr Smith

Three quotes frame the distance between the character audiences remember and the actor who played him.

Be yourself; everyone else is taken.

Oscar Wilde

Jack McPhee shares a romantic kiss with Ethan — a watershed TV moment.

Encyclopaedia Britannica (text)

I Don’t Wanna Wait: My Life on Dawson’s Creek

People, announcing Smith’s memoir (text)

The common thread: the public Smith is still defined by a character he played for most of the show’s run — and he is finally ready to talk about it himself.

The takeaway

Kerr Smith’s career is a lesson in what happens when an actor stops measuring success by the size of the role: he played a landmark character, worked steadily for two decades, and then stepped away from acting’s center stage entirely to fly planes and write a book. For Kerr Smith, the memoir is the real second act — it turns the most discussed kiss of his career into a story he controls. For fans who met him as Jack McPhee, the decision is clear: read the book when it lands, or keep letting old episodes and clip compilations tell the story for him.

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