Jimmy Smits

Jimmy Smits has built a career that allows him to move effortlessly between film, television and stage. The eleven-time Emmy Award nominated and four-time Golden Globe nominated actor signed to star in as well as executive produce Cane, a drama series for CBS. El Sendero Productions, Smits’ own shingle, has also set up two projects with ABC TV Studio, one a miniseries at ABC and the other a drama on FX.

In 2006, Smits completed his role in the long-running and criticallyacclaimed NBC series The West Wing. As President Matthew Santos, Smits brought to the show his own infusion of energy and added even more depth to the well-written and politically relevant plot line. Smits’ filmography includes such early works as Peter Hyams’ Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal; John Schlesinger’s The Believers; Old Gringo with Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda; Blake Edwards’ comedy Switch; the critically acclaimed My Family/Mi Familia, directed by Gregory Nava, for which he received an IFP Spirit Award nomination; Carlos Ávila’s Price of Glory, Chuck Russell’s thriller Bless The Child; and George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode II– Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III– Revenge of the Sith.

Smits began his acting career in the New York theater and returns to theater often. He starred on Broadway in 2004 as the romantic new arrival in a Cuban-American cigar factory in Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play Anna in the Tropics, preceded by the New York Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park presentations of Much Ado About Nothing (2004) and Twelfth Night (2002). He is also an active member of the New York Public Theatre’s Board of Directors.

In addition to his work on the stage and on the screen, Smits has enjoyed an exemplary television career. Coinciding with his West Wing Presidency, Smits was also seen in HBO’s multiple award-winning television movie Lackawanna Blues, George C. Wolfe's colorful tale of boarding house life, love, and blues in 1950’s New York.

He received six consecutive Emmy nominations for his role as Victor Sifuentes on L.A. Law, winning the Emmy in 1990, and also five Emmy nominations for his role as Bobby Simone on the critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning drama, NYPD Blue. Additionally, he received an ALMA Award and an Imagen Award for Best Actor in The West Wing, has four Golden Globe nominations - winning as an Actor in a Leading Role, Drama Series, in 1995 for his role in NYPD Blue - and four SAG Award nominations. His highly touted departure from NYPD Blue also won the Humanitas Award.

In his free time, Smits has involved himself in various charitable organizations over the years and has consistently been a strong advocate for education. In 1997, he co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), along with actors Esai Morales and Sonia Braga and Washington attorney Felix Sanchez, to promote Hispanic talent in the performing arts. The organization, offers graduate scholarships and cash grants at prominent colleges and universities in order to expand career opportunities and increase access for Hispanic artists and professionals while fostering the emergence of new Hispanic talent. Other organizations Smits is involved with include the Red Cross, NY Cares, the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The Fulfillment Fund, United Way, and many more.

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