Born in New Orleans, Smith graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications.   There, he was a four-year letterman on the University’s “powerhouse” basketball team.  During his senior year he interned at a local cable station as a video engineer.  Upon graduation he went on to work at WWL-TV, a local CBS affiliate in New Orleans, where he worked as one of eight news photographers on the station’s well-respected news team.

In 1989 Smith was accepted into the prestigious AFI [American Film Institute] in Los Angeles, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.  There he received AFI’s 1991 distinguished Remy Martin Student Scholarship Award. This marked the first time in its six-year inception, that the award was given to a cinematography fellow, and the first time the award went to a first year student.

Smith began his film career in the camera department working with such well-known filmmakers as Oliver Stone and Robert Richardson, ASC.  He worked with the pair on JFK, Heaven and Earth, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, and Any Given Sunday. He went onto work with Rob Reiner on a Few Good Men, and Robert Townsend’s comedy, Meteor Man, and on Mike Binder’s Blankman, starring Damon Wayans. His last project as an assistant was The Trigger Effect , a film directed by David Koeppe, who also wrote Jurassic Park.

As a cinematographer, Smith has worked on a wide variety of projects including the independent film, Pastor Brown, directed by Rockmond Dunbar, [actor; Sons of Anarchy, Soulfood]. The film stars Salli Richardson-Whitmore and Tasha Smith. Another recent short, The Lift, directed by Lyndon Barrios, won a “Best Cinematography” award at the Independent Film Showcase. Smith also shot two feature films; Hair Show and A Good Man Is Hard To Find, both feature length films directed by Leslie Small. The films starred MoNique and Golden Brooks respectively. 

His most recent projects as a Cinematographer is the hit show Bel-Air on Peacock, the feature film Love is This and the soon to be released comedy western The Outlaw Johnny Black.  Keith has joined forces with LightChaser Pictures© to be the Director of Photography on several of their upcoming projects including the horror thriller Scorned, directed by Keith Shaw, the action thriller Seven Hundred Horses, written by Dial Jones and the action adventure The Tasia Trilogy, with it’s first feature in the installment Sire.

A consumate professional through and through, Grant’s ability to get into the trenches with boots on the ground and physically produce outstanding films is second to none.

Mr.Gilmore is part of a family considered “Hollywood Royalty” and is a third generation filmmaker. His father, William S. Gilmore Jr. is a vastly experience Line Producer/Producer with credits including JAWS, AGAINST ALL ODDS, MIDNIGHT RUN and THE SANDLOT. His grandfather, Stuart Gilmore, was one of the top Editors of the last century with credits including AIRPORT, ANDROMEDA STRAIN, HATARI and WAR AND PEACE.

Grant’s film experience began as a child extra on multiple films in Europe and Mexico in addition to the United States. Once he completed studies at USC for Business and Film, Grant formally entered film production at the age of 21. In 1987, Grant became a member of the Directors Guild of America. As an Assistant Director, Grant worked on films such as FIELD OF DREAMS starring Kevin Costner, ROCKY V starring Sylvestor Stallone, FIRE DOWN BELOW starring Steven Seagal, MIDNIGHT RUN starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin,  and TERMINATOR II starring Arnold Schwarezeneggar. Finally, Grant began Producing content in 1993 including short films, infomercials, commercials and promotional films. By 1999, Grant began Producing feature films and continues to this day.

Grant is currently producing a big budget action thriller CRYPTO KINGS and recently completed comedy western THE OUTLAW JOHNNY BLACK, scheduled for release in 2023.