Zachary Smith is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street who has been portrayed by Mike Edward in multiple guest stints since mid 1995.

Zac appeared in numerous stints throughout the show's first 20 years, initially debuting in May 1995 as a short term love interest for Grace Kwan (Lynette Forday).

His storylines saw him have a heated affair despite being in a relationship and later, sexually assault Roimata Samuels (Shavaughn Ruakere) in a personal attack on her husband.

[2] Part of the role in which producers intended Shortland Street to participate in, was to accurately portray and convey real life community and everyday occurrences.

"[12] Following the conclusion of the character's arc and the 6 months, producers decided to extend Edward's contract and have Zac undergo a storyline where he sexually assaulted Roimata Samuels (Shavaughn Ruakere).

[15] Zac arrived as a builder on Lionel (John Leigh) and Kirsty's (Angela Dotchin) new house after being recommended by Julia (Elizabeth Hawthorne).

Zac became the talk of the town due to his good looks and ended up leaving Ferndale after briefly dating Grace Kwan (Lynette Forday).

Zac returned several months later and with the help of Julia's son James (Chris Dykzeul), managed to track down his father, Phillip, on the internet.

In 2012 Zac returned when he was hired by Sarah Potts (Amanda Billing) to care for her brain damaged son Daniel (Ido Drent) as he had become a nurse.

It soon turned out Zac was the attacker and he framed Josh (Chris Tempest) after landing TK with a reckless driving charge from a poisoned drink.

[9] A new side of Zac was shown in April when he openly and continuously pursued a sexual relationship with Vasa (Teuila Blakely) despite his partnership with Sarah (Amanda Billing).

[7] Edward acknowledged the antagonistic characteristics of his character, stating "I think there's definitely so much more darkness to Zac .... he's got a lot of aggression and anger that hasn't even been touched on yet.

[21] The Otago Daily Times reviewer, Charles Loughrey, described Zac as a, "love-rat with an increasingly obvious penchant for extreme villainy".

[23] In November a scene aired where TK's wife, Roimata (Shavaughn Ruakere) was sexually assaulted in an alleyway following her birthday party.

[24] Sexual assault storylines had previously occurred in Shortland Street (such as the rape of Minnie Crozier (Katrina Devine) in 1998), but Ruakere felt Roimata's was portrayed with "the most depth needed".

[13][26] To further the illusion that it was not Zac, directors shot the assault scene with Chris Tempest (Josh Gallagher) actually physically carrying it out, whilst Sam Bunkall (Boyd Rolleston) added the voice over.

[26] However, on 12 December 2012, Zac was revealed to the audience as the attacker when he threatened Detective Lisa Stone (Caitlin Bossley) and later removed a balaclava to expose his face.

[29] He was said to be playing TK, Roimata, Sarah and Josh, "like pawns in his own twisted game of chess, moving suspicions from one person to the other in order to keep his identity under wraps" and it appeared as though he were "unstoppable".

[19] Zac has been immortalized, being listed as one of the numerous men the iconic Rachel McKenna (Angela Bloomfield) romanced[31] and is generally well regarded as a "hunk" and a "hottie".

[29] The development of the character of Zac following his attack on Roimata, was named by Rebecca Barry Hill of The New Zealand Herald as a satisfying continuation of the drama brought on by the shows 20th anniversary in May.

[36] Zac's return to the soap, his love triangle between Sarah (Amanda Billing) and Vasa (Teuila Blakely), alongside his shirtless confrontation with TK Samuels (Benjamin Mitchell) and later sexual assault of Roimata (Shavaughn Ruakere), were all named as part of the top moments of the 2012 Shortland Street season.

[22] Although Edward received a fair amount of verbal abuse on the streets, he expected a more physical tone due to past experiences with Johnny Barker (Joey Henderson), whose character murdered 5 woman.