Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith is an actress, playwright, teacher, and author, known for her television roles on The West Wing (1999-2006) and Nurse Jackie (2009-2015). Her notable film credits include The Human Stain (2003) and Rachel Getting Married (2008). Besides film and television roles, she is most recognized for writing and performing one-person plays like Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.

In addition to her career in the entertainment industry, Smith is a professor at New York University's Department of Art and Public Policy. She is also the author of 'Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines' and 'Letters to a Young Artist.'

Smith is a recipient of a 'MacArthur Fellowship' from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She received the award in 1996 for creating "a new form of theater that blended theatrical art, social commentary, and intimate reverie." She has also received the 'National Humanities Medal' President Barack Obama and 'Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.'

Additionally, she was named to deliver the National Endowment for the Humanities' annual ‘2015 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.' Followed by that, in May 2020, she was inducted to the Playwrights' Sidewalk by Lucille Lortel Theater.