Celina Smith is the young Atlanta-born actress and singer known for playing Young Nala in the national tour of The Lion King, Rebecca in Tyler Perry’s Nickelodeon series Young Dylan, and the title role in NBC’s 2021 live television musical Annie Live! Her public story is mostly told in her own interviews from 2021, which describe a start in performing around age seven and a family that supported her career.
Which Celina Smith this article covers
Searching the name brings up more than one person. An unrelated social-media creator also goes by Celina Smith and is an adult. Relationship reports or biographical details about that person do not apply to the young actress, and this article does not attribute them to her. The actress is identified through her stage, television and live-musical credits, which are documented in contemporaneous interviews.
Early life and how she started performing
In her own retrospective account, Smith began performing at about age seven. She first wanted to be a gymnast. According to her interviews, her parents moved her toward an entertainment camp known as AGI after her cartwheels were not improving and she was making the other children and coaches laugh. She has described her mother enrolling her there, which is where she says her performing journey began.
These details come from Smith’s recollections, not from a school or training record, so they are best read as her version of events. She has said that booking The Lion King was the moment she realized she could pursue performing as a living. Her family made substantial practical commitments to make that possible. She described her mother touring with her for over a year and her father flying out to visit.
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Career milestones
Three projects are documented in the sources available for this article. They differ in format, which is why they are compared side by side below.
| Project | Role | Format | What the sources document |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lion King (national tour) | Young Nala | Touring stage production | Start date not stated in the reviewed interviews. Smith credits booking the show with showing her performing could be a profession. |
| Young Dylan (Tyler Perry, Nickelodeon) | Rebecca | Scripted television series | In a June 2021 interview she said she was ten when she started on the show, and she described her stage work in The Lion King as preparation for television acting. |
| Annie Live! (NBC) | Annie (title role) | Live television musical | Broadcast on NBC in 2021. In her interview she named Annie’s optimism as the quality she most enjoyed bringing to the role. |
These three credits are the milestones the reviewed sources describe. They are not a complete or current filmography, and the sources do not say what she has worked on since 2021. The sources also do not offer a basis for ranking her performances across stage, episodic television and live television, so this article does not rank them.
Education
The reviewed interviews do not establish a current school, a school history, a degree, or any specific schooling arrangement. They mention her age while she was working and a few ordinary interests, but that is not enough to identify where she studies or has studied. Her professional schedule and age should not be used to infer education details.
Relationships and privacy
The reviewed interviews do not establish a romantic relationship for the young actress. This reflects the limits of the public interviews available, not a statement about her private life. Because her name overlaps with the unrelated adult creator, readers who find relationship claims in search results should check whether they concern the actress at all before relying on them.
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Her own words
In an interview with Rachel Naud for INBETWEEN (2021), Smith said:
- “I knew I liked performing but I knew I wanted to do it for a living after I booked The Lion King. I think that’s when I realized I could do it professionally.”
- “Never give up! This is not an easy thing to do but if it’s what you really want, never give up.”
- “My mom and my dad have helped my career by giving up so much so that I can do what I love.”
In a separate 2021 interview with TEENPLICITY, she reflected on the Young Dylan cast: “I also feel like [the Young Dylan cast has] just really grown as a family and I think that’s really cool because they’re all just amazing people and I’m just really excited to see where we all go and how we all grow.” The words in brackets were added by the publication and should be kept if the sentence is quoted.
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About the figures in this article
The ages in this article are Smith’s own recollections. She said in INBETWEEN (2021) that she was about seven when she began performing, and she said in TEENPLICITY (2021) that she was ten when she started on Young Dylan. An IMDb biography listing gives her birth date as May 12, 2009, in Atlanta. That date comes from a secondary listing and has not been confirmed by a primary source, so it should be treated as unverified.
Sources used
- INBETWEEN, interview with Rachel Naud (2021): her start in performing, her family’s role and her advice on persistence.
- TEENPLICITY interview (2021): her comments on the Young Dylan cast and her start on the show.
- IMDb biography listing: the secondary birth-date entry noted above.
For current credits, check official cast and network pages, since the sources in this article date from 2021.
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