Damian Smith is a famous Australian Ballet Dancer. He is also famous as the former husband of a famous American actor and fashion model John Gidding. Damian worked with San Francisco Ballet and is currently the artistic director of The National Theatre Ballet School in Melbourne. Scroll down to know everything about Damian Smith such as his biography, Wiki, Childhood, Education, Career, Net worth, Family, Wife, Partner, and other details.
John Gidding And Damian Smith: Divorce, Wedding
The relationship between John Gidding and Damian Smith was swift. They met online and were engaged after three months of dating. They were married in 2013 (not much was known about the wedding), not long after the gay-marriage was legalized. And by 2015, their separation had begun. Their divorce was finalized in 2018.
During a 2019 interview with Metro Weekly, John opened up about his marriage and divorce.
“I would say I’m still reeling from the divorce…Not that it was a bad divorce but I got swept up in the enthusiasm for marriage once it became legalized and hadn’t really thought it through, I would say. Now I am a little more cautious. I used to kind of leap into things. Long story short: I’m single and dipping my toe in dating.”
If you do not know John Gidding, he is an American actor famous for his roles in tv shows like Knock First (his debut reality show), HGTV showdown, Curb Appeal: The Block, Home Free, Rachael Ray, and now Curb Appeal Xtreme.
Damian Smith Age
Damian Smith celebrates his birthday every year on the 17th of February. According to some reports he was born in the year 1973 and is currently 49 years old as of 2022. His Zodiac sign is Aquarius.
Damian Smith Family, Hometown
Damian Smith was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. His parents are Walter Roy Smith and Barbara Ann Smith. The couple has six children. Damian’s father died when he was 3 years old. Damian is the youngest of six siblings, which he had compared to having “five older bodyguards”. The particular phrase “five older bodyguards” comes naturally to Damian as he was bullied at school because of his love for dancing. His mother, a teacher, took care of the children after his father died.
Damian had a special relationship with his mother, Barbara Ann Smith. It was his mother who introduced him to ballet, which would become his life-long love and profession. When Damian was nine, she took him to a ballet recital in Newcastle, and during the intermission, Damian said to her, ‘that’s what I’m going to do’. He was offered free tuition from the Robyn Hick School of Dancing. He then trained at The McDonald College in Sydney. At age 16, he accepted a scholarship to train at the School of American Ballet in New York City.
Damian’s mother passed away in July 2020.
Damian Smith Instagram, Facebook
Damian was present on all three major social media platforms. He was on Instagram as @damiansmithartist and had 7.1k followers. Similarly, his Twitter handle was @damiansmithArt and he had 156 followers.
On Facebook, his name was Damian Smith and he had over 1.6k Facebook friends.
Damian Smith Job, Net Worth
For most of his career, over 13 years to be precise, Damian Smith worked as a principal ballet dancer at San Francisco Ballet. In total, he worked for San Francisco Ballet for over 19 years. He started in 1996, was promoted to soloist in 1998, and became the principal dancer in 2001. He retired in 2014 at the age of 41.
Since retiring as a ballet dancer, Damian has worked as an artistic director first for Satellite Collective in New York City and then for National Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. He was currently based in Melbourne.
Damian had performed as Orion in Morris’ Sylvia, Iago in Lubovitch’s Othello, Paris in Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet, Hilarion in Tomasson’s Giselle, von Rothbart in Tomasson’s Swan Lake, Drosselmeyer and the Snow King in Tomasson’s Nutcracker, The Poet in Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, and many more. He received Isadora Duncan Dance Award for ensemble performance in 2000.
To learn ballet, Damian first went to Robin Hick School of Dance, and then to McDonald College School of Arts in Sydney, and finally, he moved to the US and studied at the School of American Ballet.
On average, an artistic director in Australia earns a salary of AU$77.4 thousand. Cumulating from his ballet dancer career and then artistic director career, the total net worth of Damian Smith as of September 2021 was about $2 million.