Xavier Smalls: Full Biography of the Beauty in Black Breakout Star
Xavier Smalls is an American actor from Sacramento, California. He became widely known after landing the role of Angel in Tyler Perry’s Netflix drama series Beauty in Black, which premiered in October 2024. Before that role, he spent years working retail jobs and performing in local theatre productions while quietly building his acting training. His path from a Sacramento biology student to a Netflix series regular and Tyler Perry franchise actor is one of the more unexpected rise stories in recent American television. He is married, has two children, and in 2026 faced a significant public controversy over comments he made on social media. He later issued a public apology.
Quick Bio Facts
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Xavier Smalls |
| Date of Birth | November 7, 1997 |
| Age (2026) | 28 years old |
| Birthplace | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Hometown | Sacramento, California, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Mixed (African-American father, Mexican-American mother) |
| Religion | Christian |
| High School | Not publicly confirmed |
| University | Sacramento State University |
| Second College | Sacramento City College (Theatre Acting) |
| Further Training | William Esper Studio, New York City |
| Wife | Vanessa Martinez (married December 7, 2024, Mexico) |
| Engagement Date | August 2023 |
| Children | One daughter, one son (Xavier August Smalls, born September 2025) |
| Known Role | Angel in Beauty in Black (Netflix, 2024–present) |
| Other Notable Work | Madea’s Destination Wedding (2025), Shelf Life (2024), Picture Perfect (short) |
| Side Job (before fame) | Retail worker at Arden Fair mall, Sacramento (2023) |
| Talent Agency | The Dragonfly Agency (lifestyle/commercial division) |
| Estimated Net Worth | $500,000 to $1.5 million |
Early Life and Family Background
Xavier Smalls was born on November 7, 1997, in Los Angeles, California, though he grew up in Sacramento. His father is African-American and his mother is Mexican-American. That mixed heritage has been something Xavier has spoken about openly in interviews. He has said it helps him move between culturally specific roles with ease and brings a dual identity to the characters he plays on screen.
Growing up in Sacramento shaped his sense of community and work ethic. Sacramento is a mid-sized California city that does not carry the same entertainment industry infrastructure as Los Angeles or New York. Building an acting career from there required Xavier to create his own path rather than simply falling into proximity with the industry.
Education and the Accidental Discovery of Acting
Xavier enrolled at Sacramento State University after high school and initially chose a path far removed from performance. He majored in biology and minored in chemistry, studying scientific disciplines that had nothing to do with theatre. He later shifted to business and real estate as a second area of study. None of those directions stuck.
The turning point came when he signed up for a general education theatre class at Sacramento State as a course requirement. He has said in interviews that the class completely changed his direction. He felt something click immediately when he began performing. From that point, he committed fully to acting and stopped pursuing his earlier academic paths. He stayed at Sacramento State for about five years, spending time on campus productions and building performance experience in a real theatre environment.
He then enrolled at Sacramento City College specifically to study theatre acting, which gave him a more structured and dedicated programme than the general education course that had first sparked his interest.
William Esper Studio in New York City
After completing his time at Sacramento City College, Xavier made the significant move from Sacramento to New York City to attend the William Esper Studio. The Esper Studio is one of the most respected acting conservatories in the United States. It is known for its rigorous technique-based approach built on the Meisner method, which focuses on living truthfully in imagined circumstances and building real human connection between actors on stage and screen.
Xavier spent two conservatory seasons at the Esper Studio, studying scene work, acting technique, and on-camera performance. The training under Suzanne Esper, who runs the programme, gave him a structured professional foundation that separated him from many self-taught performers trying to break into the industry. When he later auditioned for Beauty in Black, he used everything that training had given him, reviewing the script repeatedly, sitting with the emotional circumstances of his character, and planning his actions scene by scene.
Life Before the Breakthrough
Even after completing his formal training, Xavier’s path to professional acting was not immediate. He returned to Sacramento and worked part-time at Arden Fair, a large shopping mall in the Sacramento area, in 2023. That detail, confirmed in his Wikipedia entry, has resonated with many of his fans as proof that his rise was not handed to him.
He also performed in local and regional theatre during this period. He appeared in productions of Pipeline at Celebration Arts, a Sacramento theatre company, and She Kills Monsters, a play about grief, fantasy, and sisterhood. Those stage roles kept him working as a performer while he waited for a professional television opportunity.
The Role of Angel in Beauty in Black
In 2024, Tyler Perry contacted him directly to audition for Netflix’s Beauty in Black, a crime drama series about a young woman named Kimmie who becomes entangled with a wealthy and dangerous family after taking control of a beauty empire. Xavier was cast as Angel, a character described as a straight man who dances and performs favors for men. Angel is caught between power, temptation, and consequence throughout the series.
The show premiered on Netflix in October 2024 and became an immediate hit. Xavier’s performance as Angel was highlighted by multiple outlets as a standout in the ensemble. Screen Rant described his ability to portray a character with layered conflict as evidence of impressive range for a newcomer. Angel appeared across all episodes of the first season and continued into Season 2. In Season 2, Angel fakes his own death after another character orders a hit on him, which gave Xavier one of the more dramatically demanding storylines in the show’s second chapter.
He has described the preparation process in interviews, explaining that he used everything his acting teacher Suzanne Esper had taught him. Reading the script many times, sitting with the circumstances, building the emotional preparation, and planning his character’s actions all contributed to how he approached the role.
Madea’s Destination Wedding
Following the success of Beauty in Black, Xavier was brought back into the Tyler Perry universe for Madea’s Destination Wedding, the 13th film in Perry’s iconic Madea franchise and the second Madea feature released on Netflix. The film was released worldwide on July 11, 2025, and is set in the Bahamas. Xavier plays Zavier, a rapper who meets his fiancée on a yacht and whose whirlwind wedding creates comic chaos for Madea’s entire family.
When he received the call offering him the role, he described the moment publicly as one of overwhelming disbelief and gratitude. He recalled his agent asking him if he was ready to be a star. He said yes. The film co-stars Diamond White, Taja V. Simpson, Cassi Davis, Tamela Mann, and David Mann. Xavier’s casting in the film cemented his place as a reliable performer within Perry’s expanding Netflix slate.
Short Films and Additional Work
Beyond his major roles, Xavier has a growing body of shorter work. He played the character Pat in the short film Shelf Life in 2024. He also wrote and directed a short film of his own called Picture Perfect, which centers on themes of mental health and communication. That film is significant because it shows a creative ambition beyond performing. Writing and directing his own work places him in a different category from actors who purely wait for opportunities to be offered.
He appeared as a presenter at the BET Awards in 2025, which marked another step in his public visibility beyond the roles he had been cast in. He is also signed to The Dragonfly Agency’s lifestyle division for commercial and fashion modeling work, which adds another income stream alongside his acting career.
Marriage and Family
Xavier proposed to Vanessa Martinez in August 2023. Vanessa is a makeup artist. The engagement announcement post went viral among fans who connected with his story of building a committed family life alongside a rising professional career. The couple got married on December 7, 2024, in Mexico in what appears to have been a private destination wedding ceremony. They have two children together. Their daughter was born before the marriage and their son, named Xavier August Smalls, was born in September 2025. Xavier has used social media to celebrate his family and his multicultural household, and his engagement and marriage announcements drew significant warmth from his audience.
The 2026 LGBTQ+ Controversy
In February 2026, Xavier Smalls conducted a live broadcast on Instagram. During that session, he was asked by a viewer whether LGBTQ+ people would go to hell. He responded with comments rooted in his Christian faith, stating that God loves all people but that living in what he described as sin could result in eternal consequences. He grouped LGBTQ+ individuals alongside other behaviors he described as sinful, including heavy drinking and murder. He used the word abomination in his response.
The broadcast was recorded by an Instagram user named Paul Poulos on February 7, 2026. The recording circulated widely in mid-March 2026, shortly before new episodes of Beauty in Black were released on Netflix on March 19. The timing caused significant backlash. Many viewers pointed out the perceived irony of an actor playing an LGBTQ+ adjacent character on a Tyler Perry Netflix series making those remarks. LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations publicly criticized his comments. Social media reaction was swift and widespread.
On March 22, 2026, Xavier posted a lengthy formal apology to his Instagram account. In it he said he had taken time to listen to people close to him, including individuals within the LGBTQ+ community, who helped him understand how his words could cause harm. He acknowledged that his approach had lacked love, humility, and awareness. He said nothing he shared was meant to condemn or harm any person and that every human being deserves dignity and compassion. He added that he was still learning and committed to doing better. He closed the statement by saying he was truly sorry for any pain his words caused and asked people not to let anyone make them feel less than, including himself.
The controversy did not result in any reported action from Tyler Perry’s production company or Netflix at the time of writing. Xavier remained in the cast of Beauty in Black, which has been confirmed for a third and final season.
Theatre Background and Stage Credits
Xavier’s stage experience is an important part of his overall career that often gets overlooked in coverage that focuses on his Netflix work. He performed in Pipeline, a critically recognized play by Dominique Morisseau that deals with the school-to-prison pipeline and racial justice in the American education system. He performed in that production at Celebration Arts, a Sacramento theatre company. He also appeared in She Kills Monsters, a comedic drama about a woman who discovers her late sister’s life through a Dungeons and Dragons module. Those two productions showed range before he ever appeared on camera professionally.
Sacramento Roots and the Path He Took
Xavier has spoken repeatedly about how different his path was compared to actors who grow up in Los Angeles or who attend major performing arts universities. He started in the sciences, switched to business, discovered acting by accident, performed in community theatre, worked retail at a mall, and then made it onto one of Netflix’s most-watched new dramas. That journey has made him a figure that many young people from smaller cities and non-traditional backgrounds see themselves in.
He told a KCRA-TV interviewer in July 2025 that perseverance was the single quality he credited most for where he ended up. He said working with Tyler Perry allowed him to explore different parts of himself, a reflection of both his mixed cultural identity and the range of characters he has been given the chance to play.
Net Worth
Xavier Smalls’ estimated net worth sits between $500,000 and $1.5 million as of 2026. That range reflects the early stage of his professional career. His income comes from his Netflix salary for Beauty in Black across multiple seasons, his fee for Madea’s Destination Wedding, commercial modeling work through The Dragonfly Agency, earnings from short film productions, and income from the BET Awards appearance. Before 2024 he earned through retail work and local theatre. His financial trajectory is upward given the continued success of Beauty in Black and the profile boost that the Madea franchise has given him.
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FAQ
1. Who is Xavier Smalls?
He is an American actor from Sacramento, California, best known for playing Angel in Tyler Perry’s Netflix series Beauty in Black. He is 28 years old as of 2026.
2. Where was Xavier Smalls born?
He was born in Los Angeles, California, but grew up in Sacramento, California, where he attended Sacramento State University.
3. What is Xavier Smalls known for?
He is best known for his role as Angel in Beauty in Black on Netflix. He also appeared in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Destination Wedding in 2025.
4. What did Xavier Smalls study in college?
He initially studied biology and chemistry at Sacramento State University, then shifted to business and real estate, before discovering his passion for acting through a general education theatre class.
5. Where did Xavier Smalls train as an actor?
He trained at Sacramento City College for theatre acting and then at the William Esper Studio in New York City, one of the most respected acting conservatories in the country.
6. Is Xavier Smalls married?
Yes. He married makeup artist Vanessa Martinez on December 7, 2024, in Mexico. He proposed to her in August 2023.
7. Does Xavier Smalls have children?
Yes. He has a daughter and a son. His son, Xavier August Smalls, was born in September 2025.
8. What happened with Xavier Smalls and the LGBTQ+ controversy?
In February 2026, he made comments during an Instagram Live that described LGBTQ+ people as living in sin using religious language. The video resurfaced in March 2026 and caused widespread backlash. He issued a formal public apology on March 22, 2026.
9. Did Xavier Smalls work a regular job before acting?
Yes. In 2023, just before his breakthrough, he worked part-time at Arden Fair mall in Sacramento while continuing to pursue acting.
10. What other work has Xavier Smalls done besides Beauty in Black?
He appeared in Madea’s Destination Wedding (2025), the short film Shelf Life (2024), and wrote and directed his own short film Picture Perfect. He also presented at the BET Awards in 2025.
11. What is Xavier Smalls’ ethnicity?
His father is African-American and his mother is Mexican-American. He has spoken about his mixed heritage in interviews.
12. What is Xavier Smalls’ net worth?
His estimated net worth is between $500,000 and $1.5 million as of 2026, earned through acting roles, commercial modeling, and other professional work.
