Jean Smart filmography
Jean Smart is an American actress. She is known for her diverse roles in comedies and dramas on stage and screen. She gained notoriety for her role as Charlene Frazier-Stillfield in the CBS sitcom Designing Women (1986–1991). She had a recurring guest role as Lana Gardner, a romantic interest in the NBC sitcom Frasier from 2000 to 2001 earning two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
She expanded her work in television often shifting from comedy and drama taking roles such as Detective Sherry Regan in the CBS crime drama series The District (2000–2004), Martha Logan in the Fox action drama series 24 (2006–2007), Regina Newly in the ABC sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–2009), Roseanna Remmick, a District Attorney in the NBC legal comedy Harry's Law (2011–2012), Floyd Gerhardt in the FX anthology series Fargo (2015), Melanie Bird in the FX superhero series Legion (2017–2019), and Agent Laurie Blake in the HBO limited series Watchmen (2019), and Helen Fahey in the HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown (2021). She gained acclaim and three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for playing comedian Deborah Vance in the HBO comedy series Hacks (2021–present).
On film, she took early roles in the action thriller Flashpoint (1984), the romance drama Fire with Fire (1986), and the science fiction comedy Project X (1987). She took supporting roles in the satirical comedy film The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002), the comedy Bringing Down the House (2003), the independent dramedy Garden State (2004), the independent film I Heart Huckabees (2004), the romance Youth in Revolt (2009), the dramedy Hope Springs (2012), the action thriller The Accountant (2016), and the black comedy mystery A Simple Favor (2018). She played a gossip columnist in the Damien Chazelle historical epic Babylon (2022).
On stage, Smart made her Broadway debut playing Marlene Dietrich in the Pam Gems play Piaf (1981). She acted in the Broadway revival of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play The Man Who Came to Dinner (2003) for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In 2025, she returned to Broadway in the one-woman play Call Me Izzy (2025).