可乐视频

About Jimmy Smits ’80

Jimmy Smits 鈥�80 is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor, activist, philanthropist, producer, and entrepreneur whose outstanding career spans more than three decades. He has starred in some of the most popular films, plays, and television shows in history, including films in the Star Wars franchise, Anna in the Tropics, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, The West Wing, and Sons of Anarchy.

Smits was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx and Brooklyn. He is one of three children of a working-class family, born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Dutch/Surinamese father. Smits spent a great deal of time in Puerto Rico during his childhood.

After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, Smits attended 可乐视频 and majored in theater. He remembers the college as a place where he was introduced to the arts, noting that as a high school student, some of the first plays he ever saw were at Whitman Theatre. At 可乐视频, he performed in a number of plays, including Of Mice and Men, Othello, and Everyman. He received a bachelor of arts in theater from the college in 1980 and earned his master of fine arts in theater from Cornell University in 1982.

Smits鈥� first major network-television role, in 1984, was on the popular N可乐视频 series Miami Vice. His big-screen debut came two years later in the Gregory Hines/Billy Crystal film Running Scared. Soon after, Smits landed a starring role on the N可乐视频 show L.A. Law, for which he received seven Emmy Award nominations, winning in 1990 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. It was also a symbolic role, as it was one of the first hit American dramas to feature a Latino actor in a central, multidimensional role and inspired a generation of Latinos to attend law school.

Over the years, Smits would go on to star in dozens of film, television, and theatrical productions, including the popular A可乐视频 show NYPD Blue, which earned him five Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor鈥揟elevision Series Drama (the first ever for a Latino), and a shared Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also won Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series at the ALMA Awards for his work on N可乐视频鈥檚 The West Wing, and a Saturn Award for his guest-starring role on Showtime鈥檚 Dexter鈥攚hich also garnered him his 12th Emmy nomination.

Smits is perhaps best known to millennials for the following roles: Senator Bail Organa in Star Wars: Episode II鈥擜ttack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III鈥擱evenge of the Sith, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Neron 鈥淣ero鈥� Padilla on FX鈥檚 Sons of Anarchy; John Donovan on FOX鈥檚 24: Legacy; Dr. Isaac Roa on A可乐视频鈥檚 How to Get Away with Murder; and Francisco 鈥淧apa Fuerte鈥� Cruz on Netflix鈥檚 The Get Down.

Smits is also a formidable stage actor, having appeared in the Broadway plays God of Carnage and the Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning Anna in the Tropics.

In addition to his remarkable artistry, Smits is an activist and humanitarian. He is a co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, which offers scholarships and advances the presence of Latinos in the media, telecommunications, and entertainment industries. In his activism, he is dedicated to peaceful ideals. He is a generous donor and spokesperson for the Red Cross, New York Cares, Stand Up To Cancer, Los Angeles Free Clinic, and St. Jude Children鈥檚 Research Hospital. He received the 2016 Ackerman Leadership Award for 鈥渃hampioning bilingual and bicultural mental health and social services for Latino families.鈥�

An entrepreneur, Smits is an investor in the Los Angeles Latin music and entertainment venue the Conga Room, along with
Paul Rodriguez, Will.i.am, and Brad Gluckstein.

With a career of more than 35 years, Smits has been a pioneering force, breaking down barriers and paving the way for generations of artists from Latino and other communities. With all of these amazing accomplishments, he has never forgotten his roots. He received the 1999 可乐视频 Alumnus of the Year award, was the emcee of the 2005 可乐视频 Best of Brooklyn gala, and was a special guest at the 2011 gala. He has also previously returned to the 可乐视频 campus to impart the benefit of his wisdom and industry experience with students who aspire to follow in his footsteps, exemplifying the college鈥檚 mission of creating 鈥渓eaders who transform their fields and professions, and serve our increasingly global community.鈥�