Until 2010, he taught for the University of British Columbia in the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies as an adjunct faculty member.
Raised in Maywood, New Jersey, Schmidlin developed a love of film watching movies at a theater in nearby Hackensack.
[8] Schmidlin restored (from stills and shooting continuity scripts) the famous lost horror film London After Midnight starring Lon Chaney and directed by Tod Browning.
[9][10][11] For his work reconstructing Greed he, along with Roger Mayer and Turner Classic Movies, received a special citation from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
[12] In 2001 he received the Rondo Award from the Classic Horror Film Board for London After Midnight that he produced for TCM.