Anna Deavere Smith
Biography
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor who is known for her documentary theater works. Born in Baltimore in 1950, she studied acting at Beaver College and earned an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater. She began on stage in an Off-Broadway production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, then created solo plays such as Fires in the Mirror (1992) and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (1993), performing multiple characters drawn from interviews. Those works brought her Drama Desk Awards, a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Fires in the Mirror, and two Tony nominations for Twilight in 1994. Her screen credits include Philadelphia (1993), Dave (1993), The American President (1995), Rachel Getting Married (2008), and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). On television she had recurring roles on The Practice and The West Wing and played Gloria Akalitus on Nurse Jackie. She teaches at New York University and has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
76years old
Turns 77 on September 18in 341 days
- Born Baltimore
- Star sign: VirgoThe sign runs August 23 to September 22
- Also credited as Anna Smith, Anna Devere Smith and Anna Deveare Smith
Movie Career
- Films
- 11
- Career span
- 30 years1993 to 2023
First and latest
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Behind the award
Smith is known for documentary theater plays like Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, in which she was the only performer, playing many characters drawn from her interviews with residents and commentators. She took the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show in consecutive years.
First role
Smith's early television work included a recurring part on All My Children, the long-running soap opera, where she played "Hazel the shampoo girl".
First role
Early in her career, Smith took the part of Mistress Quickly in an Off-Broadway staging of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival produced it, the setting was post-Civil War New Orleans, and she made the character a "Cajun voodoo woman."
Behind the camera
Smith wrote and performed On Grace, a play commissioned by Grace Cathedral and the Cockayne Fund and based on interviews about the meaning of God's grace, with American cellist Joshua Roman accompanying the performances.
Anna Deavere Smith movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Worked with
Anna Deavere Smith shares two films with Martin Sheen, and one with each of the others. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Martin Sheen's page
Sebastian Stan's page
Samuel L. Jackson's page
Anthony Hopkins's page
Ben Kingsley's page
Antonio Banderas's page
All films by Jonathan Demme
Box office
What Anna Deavere Smith's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$554 million
8 of the 11 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 11 films: 8 worldwide figure; 3 never in cinemas.
- 8Worldwide figure
- 3Never in cinemas
Top grosser
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$207M37.3% of the total
- 2$108M19.5% of the total
- 3$92M16.6% of the total
- 4$87M15.7% of the total
- 5$25M4.5% of the total
- 6$17M3.1% of the total
- 7$10M1.8% of the total
- 8$8.6M1.6% of the total
Awards
Twelve awards and honors from 1994 to 2019.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other honors | |||
| 2019 | Global Citizen Awards | Won | |
| 2016 | George Polk Award | Won | |
| 2016 | Guggenheim Fellowship | Won | |
| 2016 | Phyllis Franklin Award | Won | |
| 2015 | Jefferson Lecture | Won | |
| 2014 | Honorary doctor of Yale University | Honorary | |
| 2012 | Honorary degree from Spelman College | Honorary | |
| 2012 | National Humanities Medal | Won | |
| 2003 | Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress | The Human Stain | Won |
| 1996 | MacArthur Fellows Program | Won | |
| 1994 | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show | Won | |
| 1994 | Theatre World Award | Won | |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.