Biography
Anna Deavere Smith (born 18 September 1950) is an American actress, playwright and professor. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and trained at Arcadia University, where she earned a BA, and at the American Conservatory Theater, where she received an MFA.
She is known for her one-woman documentary theatre works, including Fires in the Mirror (1992) and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1993). On screen she has appeared in films such as Philadelphia (1993), Dave (1993), The American President (1995), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), and in television series including The West Wing (2000–2006) and Nurse Jackie (2009–2015). She is a tenured professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and founding director of its Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Humanities Medal.
