The bestJean Smartmovies and TV shows feature some well-known releases along with some independent gems. After graduating from college, she began her acting career as a theater actor in the 1970s before moving to New York City and seeking bigger, better things. She then began to pick up television roles before she enjoyed her breakout in the TV seriesDesigning Womenas Charlene Frazier Stillfield.
Once she left that series, she moved on to smaller roles in made-for-TV movies before she got another big break with her casting on the TV showFrasieras Lana Gardner. Since that time,she began to take on some interesting roles in movies, but her biggest roles have been on television, where she has earned 13 Emmy nominations,winning six times for roles inFrasier, Samantha Who?,andHacks.
Babylon
Cast
Babylon is a film by director Damien Chazelle (La La Land) that focuses on characters during the great Hollywood boom - when silent films moved to talking pictures, and the medium was reinvented. During this era of decadence and glamorous lifestyles in pure excess, Babylon explores the rise and fall of fictional Hollywood greats that mirror nonfictional actors and actresses throughout American history.
Babylonwas one of the most polarizing movies of 2022, appearing both on critics' best-of and worst-of lists for the year. The film tells the story of the change from silent-era film to sound cinema and how it destroyed the lives of many people. Some of the major players in the movie are played by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva. However,Jean Smart also played an important role in the film as Elinor St. John.
9 Reasons Babylon Divided Both Critics & Audiences So Much
Babylon was a huge $80 million movie with two movie stars in the lead roles, but the film divided both audiences and critics, and here’s why.
Elinor St. John is a gossip columnist whose writing can make or break careers, and she uses it for those purposes. The role was smaller, but it was important in showing how the fame and reputation of the stars were often out of their hands and in control of women like Elinor.Babylonearned three Oscar nominations and five Golden Globe nominations but only won Best Original Score at the Globes. Smart was nominated for a Satellite Award.
Mare of Easttown
Mare of Easttown is a mystery crime-drama that stars Kate Winslet as a detective attempting to solve a murder as her life crumbles around her. Marianne “Mare” Sheehan is assigned to investigate the murder of one girl while trying to tackle a cold case of another missing girl. Having recently lost her son, Mare’s world is steeped in chaos as she attempts to reclaim her life in the eyes of the town - and herself.
In 2021, Kate Winslet took on the lead role in the crime drama seriesMare of Easttown. She stars as Mare Sheehan, a former high school basketball star in Easttown who now works as a police detective. She has been unable to find a missing girl, and when another girl is murdered, she finds the pressure building for her to solve these crimes as the town starts to turn on her.Jean Smart also plays an important rolein this miniseries.
This role gave Smart a big chance to deliver a fun performance as an opinionated, stubborn woman who is not afraid to tell people what she thinks.
Smart plays Helen Fahey, Mare’s mother.This role gave Smart a big chance to deliver a fun performance as an opinionated, stubborn woman who is not afraid to tell people what she thinks. While the mystery was important, it was the character of the small town that madeMare of Easttownsuch a great show, and having people like Jean Smart’s Helen living there is a big reason why. Smart earned an Emmy nomination for her performance.
Legion
Legion is an FX Original Series created by Noah Hawley in conjunction with Marvel Television. The psychological horror/thriller series stars Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, and Aubrey Plaza. The release pertains to comic book character Legion, otherwise known as David Haller, as he deals with a diagnosed schizophrenia and the formation of his mutant powers.
In 2017, Jean Smart joined the Marvel Universe with the Fox seriesLegion. The show was not set up as a superhero series, though, as it follows David Haller (Dan Stevens), a young man institutionalized with schizophrenia. However, as more strange things begin to happen to David, it soon becomes apparent he has some sort of superhuman or mystical powers, and it is finally revealed that he is a mutant.
10 Insane Behind-the-Scenes Facts About FX’s Legion
FX’s Legion may have been overlooked by audiences, but this X-Men spin-off, created by Noah Hawley, tells a fascinating story — on and offscreen.
The show lives in the world of The X-Men, although it never really plays in that sandbox much until the final season when David meets his birth father, Professor X. As forJean Smart, she plays Melanie Bird, a psychiatric therapist who secretly works to help mutantslearn to control their powers at Summerland and protect them from the evil government organization, Division 3.Legionis a cult favorite and ran for three seasons and 27 episodes.
Fargo
Fargo is a Black Comedy Crime Drama television series that is based on the film of the same name, which was originally created by the Coen Brothers. The TV adaptation was developed by Noah Hawley and follows an anthology format for each of its seasons, taking place in a different time period or location within the “Fargo” universe. So far, the series has seen big-name stars like Billy Bob Thornton, Ewan McGregor, Chris Rock, and Kirsten Dunst.
In 2015, Jean Smart joined the anthology television seriesFargoin one of the main cast roles. In the series,she played Floyd Gerhardt, the matriarch of the Gerhardt family, a powerful organized crime syndicate in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1979. The season puts Floyd and her family in danger thanks to her husband Otto’s debilitating stroke. Things are made worse thanks to the murder and disappearance of Rye (Kieran Culkin), Floyd’s son who died in a hit-and-run after he killed three people in a diner.
Critics praised Smart’s performance, especially in the episode, “Fear and Trembling,” when she proved she was in complete control of her organization when she sat down with a rival syndicate leader in Joe Bulo (Bead Garrett). Smart won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress In a Movie/Miniseries and also earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for her performance.
Designing Women
Four women work together running an interior design company in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is run by sisters Suzane and Julia Sugarbaker, Mary Jo, a divorced mother, and Charlene, a sweet country girl. The series follows the daily lives of these women at work and in their personal lives, telling their stories of love and friendship.
Jean Smart enjoyed her breakout role on the 1986 sitcomDesigning Women. The series followed four women (and one man) who worked together at an interior design company in Atlanta in the 1980s. The cast was spectacular, with Dixie Carter starring as the president, Delta Burke as the silent partner, Annie Potts as the head designer, andJean Smart as Charlene Frazier, the office manager.
While this was Smart’s breakout show, it wasn’t until later starring roles that she started getting awards notice.
The series was a massive success, running for seven seasons and 163 episodes on CBS. On top of being a ratings juggernaut for a comedy sitcom,Designing Womenwas also a critical success. It earned 17 Emmy nominations and two Golden Globes nominations, although it only won one Emmy for Hairstyling. While this was Smart’s breakout show, it wasn’t until later starring roles that she started getting awards notice.
Samantha Who?
Samantha Who? is a TV show about Samantha Newly (Christina Applegate), a woman who wakes up from an eight-day coma with no memory of her past and discovers that she used to be a mean, self-centered person. As she pieces her life back together, she strives to become a better individual, while dealing with her confusing past and navigating relationships with family and friends.
Airing on ABC from 2007 to 2009,Samantha Who?stars Christina Applegate as Samantha Newly, a vice president of a real estate firm who develops retrograde amnesia after a hit and run accident. When she learns she was not a good person before the accident, she sets out to make amends and become a better person with this second chance in life.Jean Smart plays her mother, Regina, in the series.
Smart and Kevin Dunn received praise for playing Samantha’s dysfunctional parents in the series, and the series earned Smart her third Primetime Emmy Award win for her performance in 2008. Applegate was nominated the same year, but she lost to Tina Fey for30 Rock. The series lasted for two seasons and 35 episodes, but ABC canceled the series with still seven episodes to air.
24
24 follows CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit) agent Jack Bauer as he contends with various threats to national and international security by any means necessary. With each season comprised of 24 episodes telling Bauer’s story in real-time, 24 brings the action to life one day at a time. Racing against the clock, Bauer is forced to make impossible decisions in the name of public service, bending his personal morals to get the job done.
In 2006,Jean Smart joined the political thriller series24.She wasn’t an original cast member, but she did join the cast in the fifth season. The series follows Keifer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer, an agent who is part of the Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles Division (CTU), whose job is to protect the United States from terrorist plots. Smart plays Martha Logan, the First Lady of the United States in Season 5 and President Charles Logan’s (Gregory Itzin) wife.
Jean Smart’s New TV Success Is A Great Reminder To Watch Her 3-Year-Old HBO Drama With 95% On RT
Known for her genre-spanning career, Jean Smart’s Emmy win for Hacks is a reminder to watch her performance in another HBO series from 3 years ago.
While the storyline in the fifth season was still solid, it was Smart’s First Lady that many critics pointed out as the breakout character of the season. She spent much of the season contemptuous of her husband’s actions as president and tried to force him to confess that he conspired with terrorists. Smart’s performance as Martha Logan earned her back-to-back Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Watchmen
Set in an alternate history where superheroes emerged in the 20th century, the series explores themes of racial tension and political intrigue. Following the events in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a detective named Angela Abar uncovers a conspiracy involving masked vigilantes, the legacy of the original Watchmen, and a cult-like organization aiming to seize power. The narrative intertwines past and present, revealing deep-seated secrets and societal issues.
In 2019, HBO created the sequel seriesWatchmen, following the storyline from the Zack Snyder movie (and Alan Moore graphic novel). The series takes place many years after the events of the movie, with the world becoming a nasty and violent place again and racism becoming worse than ever. Set in Oklahoma and referencing the Tulsa Race Massacre, the film shows vigilantes still operating but in a much different manner.
Smart received another Primetime Emmy nomination for this performance.
Jean Smart plays Laurie Blake. She was the second Silk Spectreand has since become an FBI agent tasked with bringing down costumed vigilantes. This puts her at odds with Regina King’s Sister Night, who is also a Tulsa police officer trying to stop a white supremacist group that wants to use Doctor Manhattan to achieve their violent goals. Smart received another Primetime Emmy nomination for this performance.
Frasier
Fraiser is a comedy-drama sitcom that stars Kelsey Grammer as a psychiatrist who takes up the role of a radio show host in Seattle after his life in Boston is upheaved. A spin-off of the series Cheers, Fraiser follows the titular character adjusting to the single life while caring for his father (a retired police officer,) his brother, and other eccentric co-workers.
Jean Smart won the first Primetime Emmy Awardsof her career when she appeared onFrasier. Smart played Lana Gardner, an old high school sweetheart of Frasier, someone he and Niles both had crushes on when they were younger. During her appearances on the hit sitcom, Lana was estranged from her husband, Bob Gardner, and she and Frasier began a relationship together for a short time, although Frasier ended up breaking things off.
Frasier’s Reboot Now Has The Perfect Returning OG Character Cameo After 23 Years
After 23 years, the Frasier reboot finally has the perfect opening for a popular original character’s return — and it’s not David Hyde Pierce.
Smart impressed critics and fans, and while her character’s aggressive and overbearing personality was perfect for comedy, it never could have worked as a successful love interest for Frasier. She ended up winning two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2000 (Season 7) and 2001 (Season 8). These were Smart’s first Emmy wins, but there would be many more to come.
Hacks
Hacks, released in 2021, is a dark comedy series that explores the evolving relationship between Deborah Vance, a legendary comedian in Las Vegas, and an ambitious, outcast young writer. The show delves into the complexities of mentorship and creativity in the entertainment industry.
In 2021,Jean Smart took on the lead role of Deborah Vancein the HBO comedy-drama seriesHacks. The show focuses on the professional relationship between a legendary stand-up comedian and a young comedy writer. This is a starring vehicle made specifically for Jean Smart, who plays the legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedian Deobrah Vance. Hannah Einbinder co-stars as the young comedy writer Ava Daniels.
Hacks Season 1 Cast & Character Guide: Where You Know The Actors From
Jean Smart leads a stellar cast of familiar faces and talented newcomers in HBO Max’s hit series about Las Vegas stand-up diva Deborah Vance.
The story starts off with Deborah needing to freshen up her act, or she could lose her residency in Vegas. Enter Ava to help push Deborah to take more risks, which results in Deborah helping Ava work through her problems. The series has aired three seasons on Max and won two Golden Globe Awards for Brest Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and one award for Smart for Best Actress.Jean Smartalso won Emmys for all three seasons of the show.
