Jean Smart Says Actors Should Be 'Grateful' for Their Roles
Did you hear the one about the Emmy-winning actress crying at a drag show?
This is not a set-up for a punchline from Hacks, the biting Max comedy starring Jean Smart as legendary stand-up comic Deborah Vance. Instead, Smart is in the middle of her Zoom interview with Parade and recalling an experience that she still hasn’t quite shaken.
Photo by Matthias Clamer
It happened in Austin, Texas, in March when the cast and crew were promoting the upcoming third season (premiering May 2). To unwind after a long day, they hit a local club and gave the performers a heads up about their attendance. As she tells it, “A gorgeous redhead comes out as Reba McEntire to sing ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.’” Then, mid-way through the number, the performer stopped and lip-synced an iconic monologue from Smart’s 1986-93 sitcom, Designing Women.
“Then they finished the song!” Smart says. “I was just weeping.”
Given that the speech—originally delivered by Dixie Carter—dates back to 1986, Smart could just consider it a salute to her status as a Hollywood survivor. But she blanches at the notion. “I don’t think of myself as a survivor because I’ve been very fortunate,” she says. “I don’t feel like I’ve paid my dues.”
Still, luck can’t account for decades of Hollywood success. A Seattle native, Smart, 72, was already a theater darling when she headed to L.A. to pursue her screen dreams. She landed her role as na?ve Charlene on the brassy Designing Women only a handful of years later. After leaving the show in 1992, she collected three Emmys: Two for her guest appearances on Frasier and one for playing Christina Applegate’s mom on Samantha Who? Meanwhile, she and her husband, actor Richard Gilliland, raised two sons: Connor, 34, and Forrest, 15. (Gilliland died in 2021.)
Related: From Designing Women to Fargo, These Are Jean Smart's 10 Best Roles
Then came the Jean-aissance. Starting with the second season of Fargo in 2015, she went on a prestige TV tear that included turns on Legion, Dirty John, Watchmen and Mare of Easttown. All different genres, all of which showed her remarkable range. “I’ve had the chance to play roles of a lifetime for the last several years,” she says.
And with Hacks, she’s laughing all the way to the top. Though the series only premiered in 2021, Smart has already turned the sardonic and unapologetic Deborah into one of TV’s greats—and has collected two more Emmys in the process.
“Jean sets a beautiful example for the cast, especially our younger actors,” Hacks creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky tell Parade in an email. “She’s respectful of the crew, always knows her lines, hits her mark and is the epitome of class.”
For the new season, Smart’s Las Vegas stalwart sets a new goal: Land a late-night talk show hosting gig that she turned down decades earlier. To snare a creative edge, she recruits her quick-witted (and much younger) ex-writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder). “Deborah wants it so bad,” Smart explains. “All of sudden this drive comes back that she’s been pushing down for years.”
A month after her Texas trip, Smart journeyed through her life and career for this week’s Parade cover story.
Mara Reinstein: You’ve said in the past that you and Deborah don’t have a lot in common because her character is fueled by anger. Do you still believe that?
Jean Smart: Oh, I wouldn’t say that now. We have similar rhythms and a similar sense of humor. I think I’m a lot nicer and more easygoing than Deborah. The one thing I don’t relate to is the bitterness. I mean, she’s just hung on to it and cultivated it. Look at how angry she is at her ex-husband and her sister. It’s not healthy.
In one of the episodes, there’s a joke about Deborah having a room dedicated solely to her career in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. And there are vintage photos of you in it!
Oh my gosh, those are the little details from the writers that I think are brilliant.
That was a good era for Deborah. Was it good for you?
Well, let’s see. We started [Designing Women] in 1986. I got married to Richard in 1987 during the second season of the show. We had my oldest child. I was getting known as an actor. Yeah, it was a wonderful time. I didn’t love the hair or the shoulder pads.
How did you pivot from comedy to drama?
I think when I did 24 [from 2006-07], people started looking at me differently as an actor. I played the First Lady, and Gregory Itzin, who played the President, reminded people of Richard Nixon. People would say over and over to me, “Oh, I can’t stand that guy.” But he was the best! He actually would arrive to the set in the morning in ripped jeans, spiky hair and piercings in both ears.
Fargo came almost a decade later. Did you have to audition for it?
I did, and I was excited about it. I hadn’t worked in a while, and I had just turned down a show because I did not think it was well-written. Even though I knew I should do it for the money, I just said to myself, I can’t. The next day, my agent called and told me that [creator] Noah Hawley wanted me to come in. I think it was the universe rewarding me for being true to myself.
Was there a part of you that thought, “I’m Jean Smart, I have Emmys, I shouldn’t have to audition”?
Well, at that point I only had a couple Emmys for Frasier, I think. And a Tony nomination! But no, I didn’t feel that way. Especially for a prestigious show like that one. I didn’t ever mind auditioning, really. If it’s something I’ve never really done before or if there’s a side to me that I’d like to show, then I look forward to it.
Related: More Mare of Easttown? What Show Creator Brad Ingelsby Told Us About a Season 2
Is it important to have that kind of humility in your business?
Well, I hope so. The other day, somebody was talking about working with actors who were a nightmare. And I was thinking that actors should be so grateful that they get to do this. So many talented actors are not working at all. You should be happy to be here! It should be fun!
Are you at the point in your career when people come to you for advice?
I remember the first time I was on one of the sets and I was being treated with reverence by a couple of younger actors. I thought, Oh, God no, not reverence! It just means I’m ancient! I don’t feel like I have great advice except to tell actors don’t make yourself crazy trying to figure out what someone else wants. Find out what’s unique about you and use that. Don’t look like that girl. Do you.
Did you arrive in Hollywood with a lot of confidence?
I did. I think it’s because of the years I did in theater. You have to come up with the goods eight times a week and make it seem like it’s the first time you’ve ever done it. It’s one thing to do eight takes—it’s another to do it eight times a week, week after week. And you’re doing it in front of a live audience! The only thing is that I wish I had come to L.A. when I was a little younger.
Are you going to do theater again soon?
I’m actually working on a one-woman show that we’re trying to bring to New York in the summer of 2025.
In your 2022 Parade interview, you were asked if you liked being 70 and you replied, “Are you nuts?” How do you feel two years later?
I don’t feel the same way, because I’d love to be 70! My 70s have been pretty rough, except professionally.
What’s your life like now away from Hacks? Do you still live in a farmhouse?
We actually just moved right before Christmas. I live in an old Spanish house now from the 1920s. It’s always been one of my fantasies to live in one. So we’ve been doing construction on it and literally unpacking all the time and that takes up all my free time.
Did you need a change of scenery after enduring such a personal loss?
That was a little bit of it. But it’s also closer to my son’s new school and closer to my work.
How else do you fill the time?
I can’t pass by an antiques store or a thrift store. It’s physically impossible.
Deborah collects antique pieces and knick-knacks. Coincidence?
I don’t know. Sometimes the writers hear me say things and it winds up in a script. I think they heard me say that my fantasy man is “a Rockefeller in the body of James Gandolfini” and used it. I always thought James Gandolfini was very attractive!
What do you think is the appeal of Hacks, anyway?
I think people respond to the generational butting of heads and the relationship between Deborah and Ava. The writers have really been able to maintain that because I was really afraid that by the end of Season 1, they wouldn’t keep it going. But they’re brilliant and they did and they have. I think people really identify with that because it makes them think about their relationship with their kids and their parents and it’s a real thing but it’s also amusing.
How true to your life is that? Do you ever just throw your hands up and think you had it better?
I actually have to stop saying that to my kids because I’m afraid I’m going to depress them. I say, “You have no idea how easy life used to be, and I feel so bad for you.”
Easy in which way? Technology?
Obviously there are segments of society that did not have it better in the 50s and 60s, so that’s a good thing because attitudes have changed. But I remember when I first got an answering machine and I really resented it because I knew it would be one more way for people to get a hold of me. Now you have no choice. You have to have a computer and a cell phone. That’s wrong. I think about my mother [Kay], who was really smart and educated and well-read, and computers were starting to be a thing towards the end of her life. She had no interest in it, and I didn’t blame her.
Maybe the moral of the story is that being in your 70s has its benefits after all.
Seriously! You know, a young actress was asking me for advice recently. We were doing a movie together, and she was bemoaning the fact that the industry is kind of dead right now and that even though the [SAG-AFTRA] strike is over, nothing is happening and she was very frustrated. It was the only time I’ve ever been glad to be this age in this business. I wouldn’t want to be starting out now!
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
