Smith was born in Limestone County, Texas, to Anna Nicole and Billy Smith. When Smith's parents divorced in 1987, his father left the family, so he was raised by his mother. He spent his childhood in a variety of different private schools. He was the stepson of J. Howard Marshall II, whom his mother met at a strip club and married in 1994. At the age of 16, Smith was featured as himself on his mother's reality television series, The Anna Nicole Show, which ran on the E! Entertainment Television channel from 2002 to 2004. The show's makeup artist remembered him as "a shy, sweet kid" and that his mother often worried that the camera crews were upsetting him. He was always shown in the opening credits, but his actual appearances were minimal. He would mention, in a second season episode, that he did not want to be part of the show anymore. He was also seen with his mother in E! True Hollywood Story. Smith played bit parts in two of his mother's films, Skyscraper and To the Limit. Described by Anna as a straight A honor student, he had last been attending classes at Los Angeles Valley College in the summer of 2006. He had also been working as an associate producer on her upcoming science-fiction/comedy film Illegal Aliens
Smith died while visiting his mother at the maternity ward in Doctor's Hospital in (Nassau, The Bahamas), on September 10, 2006, days after she had given birth to his half sister (Dannielynn Hope]. Cyril Wecht, an American forensic pathologist, stated Daniel Smith accidentally overdosed on methadone and escitalopram. On an episode of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, Dannielynn's father, Larry Birkhead stated that security in the house indicated that Daniel had stolen his mother's methadone.
Smith died while visiting his mother at the maternity ward in Doctor's Hospital in (Nassau, The Bahamas), on September 10, 2006, days after she had given birth to his half sister (Dannielynn Hope]. Cyril Wecht, an American forensic pathologist, stated Daniel Smith accidentally overdosed on methadone and escitalopram. On an episode of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, Dannielynn's father, Larry Birkhead stated that security in the house indicated that Daniel had stolen his mother's methadone.