Actress Morgan Smith Goodwin from Laguna Beach Bio: Wendys Girl

May 21, 2024

Who is Morgan Smith?

Morgan Smith was born on 29 March 1985, in Cullman, Alabama, USA, and is an actress, but probably best known for playing Red, also known as the Wendy’s Girl, establishing her as a spokesperson for the fast food chain Wendy’s. The character is one of the more recent advertising efforts of the chain.

The Riches of Morgan Smith

How rich is Morgan Smith? As of late-2018, sources estimate a net worth that is over $3 million, earned through a successful career in acting. Aside from her work with Wendy’s, she’s also worked on numerous stage productions throughout her career, and as she continues her endeavors, it is expected that her wealth will also continue to increase.

Early Life, Education, and Career Beginnings

There is little information about Morgan’s childhood, but it is known that after matriculating from high school, she enrolled into Birmingham-Southern College, where she studied musical theatre. After completing her degree, she moved to New York City in hopes of pursuing a career as an actress, and initially appeared in concerts, benefit events, and readings, before finding consistent work on stage. One of her first stage appearances was in the off-Broadway production of “Freckleface Strawberry”, of which she was one of the original cast members in the play based on the children’s book of the same name. Written by actress Julianne Moore, it was a New York Times Best Seller, and a semi-autobiographical book telling the story of a girl who wants to get rid of her freckles, but eventually learns to accept them. The book has spawned numerous other books over the last few years, including “Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully” and “Freckleface Strawberry: Loose Tooth!” However the stage play only focused on the original writings. The musical has been reviewed by Moore as extremely flattering and gratifying.

#tbt to my first wedding pic.twitter.com/QAgKsYiW16

— Morgan Smith (@MsMorganSmith) January 15, 2015

Other Work

Smith’s next project would be a lead role in a production of “Sweet Charity”, staged in Birmingham, Alabama in 2011. The musical is based on the screenplay for the film “Nights of Cabiria” with choreography and direction for Broadway by Bob Fosse, and starred Gwen Verdon and John McMartin. However, the original film focused on the ups and downs of a romantically hopeful prostitute, while the play focused on a dancer for hire at a dance hall in Times Square. The play was nominated for nine Tony Awards, and has been revived numerous times including with international productions. It had also been adapted into a film in 1969 with Shirley MacLaine as the lead. Another project Smith worked on in New York City was the drama production of “Circumstance”, directed by Lena Khan.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s is a fast food restaurant chain with origins in Columbus, Ohio, and is the world’s third largest fast food hamburger chain in the world, with over 6,500 locations only surpassed by Burger King and McDonald’s. Their chain is known for the Frosty, which is a type of soft serve ice cream, and they also serve sea salt fries, chicken sandwiches, beverages and French fries. They used to have a signature hamburger called the “Big Classic”, but it has been phased out.

The chain was successful during its first few years as it quickly spread internationally, however, they had a problem when it came to branding, especially against their competition. It wasn’t until the 1980s that actress Clara Peller was featured in a successful commercial campaign that helped Wendy’s establish its own brand; she was later replaced by founder Dave Thomas who would appear in over 800 commercials to promote his company. After his death, the company struggled to find a replacement that would help them get back on track. They had numerous efforts all of which failed, before they returned to animated campaigns. They were also known for their product placement in television and films.

Recent Advertising and the Wendy’s Girl Red

The company eventually featured a new ad campaign with an animated version of their mascot, voiced by Luci Christian. They changed their slogans several times, and in 2010 started featuring Wendy Thomas, who the fast food chain was named after, actually the first time that she had appeared in an ad for the company. This quickly changed as the company started to look for someone who could represent the company as ‘the Wendy’s girl’. From numerous auditions, Morgan proved successful and began appearing as a redhead in the ad with the slogan “Now that’s better”. Morgan isn’t a natural redhead, but the ad campaign got a lot of attention because she fitted the Wendy’s character so well. The following year, more commercials started airing, promoting the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and featuring actor Nick Lachley, intended to target the millennial audience. More commercials followed promoting other product releases of the company in the next few years. Their latest slogan is “Not just different, deliciously different”.

Personal Life

For her personal life, it is known that Smith has been married to David Goodwin since 2009. He is known as the manager of the New York City restaurant called Gramercy Tavern, which has received numerous awards over the last two decades, with it being one of the most popular and well-reviewed food destinations in the city.

Similar to numerous actresses, Morgan is highly active online through accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media websites. She is often seen promoting some of her recent and upcoming projects, and has posted a lot of personal pictures including with her husband.

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