Cotter Smith (born 29 May 1949) is an American film and television actor. He was born Joseph Cotter Smith in Washington, District of Columbia, the son of Madeline (née Cotter) and John Lewis Smith, Jr., who was a federal judge. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1972.
He began his acting career in New York in 1978, studying with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio. His many New York theater credits include the Broadway premiere of Wendy Wasserstein's AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER with Hal Holbrook, Kate Nelligan and Peter Riegert; Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE with Molly Ringwald; Lanford Wilson's BURN THIS with Joan Allen; Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize winning A SOLDIER'S PLAY with Denzel Washington and Samuel Jackson; Athol Fugard's THE BLOOD KNOT with Danny Glover; the premiere of Craig Lucas's THE DYING GAUL, as well as many others. He spent ten years as a member of the Circle Repertory Company working exclusively on the premiere productions of new American plays, and is currently a member of the Vineyard Theatre Company in New York. He also co-starred with Judd Hirsch in the National Tour of the Tony Award winning play ART.
He spent five summers as a member of the Playwrights Lab at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and four at the New York Stage and Film Company working on the development of new American plays. He is also a founding member of the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where he has appeared in Anton Chekhov's THE SEA GULL, Harold Pinter's THE HOMECOMING, Samuel Beckett's ENDGAME, Caryl Churchill's MAD FOREST, Allan Bennett's Habeas Corpus and George M. Cohan's THE TAVERN. Other Los Angeles performances include ROMEO AND JULIET, LOVE LETTERS and RAFT OF THE MEDUSA, as well as the West Coast premieres of A SOLDIER'S PLAY and HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE at the Mark Taper Forum.
Together with his wife, Heidi Mueller Smith, he is a Founder and Artistic Director of the Cornerstone Theatre Company in Milwaukee, where he has also directed and taught acting. Among his directing credits for the company are Edward Albee's THE AMERICAN DREAM, Harold Pinter's NIGHT SCHOOL and Lanford Wilson's THE GINGHAM DOG. Some of his acting credits there include TWELVE ANGRY MEN, BETRAYAL, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT and EDUCATING RITA.
He has been nominated four times by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and is the recipient of their Outstanding Performance Award. He has also received four Drama-Logue Awards and two Ovation Award nominations.
His television and film work ranges from his debut 25 years ago co-starring as Robert Kennedy (opposite Robert Blake's Jimmy Hoffa) in the mini-series BLOOD FEUD, to his more recent role as the President of the United States in the 20th Century Fox film, X2: X-MEN UNITED. Over the years he has appeared in over fifty television shows, from his regular roles on the ABC series EQUAL JUSTICE and NIGHT STALKER to his recurring roles on JUDGING AMY, TRU CALLING, COURTHOUSE and ORLEANS. His numerous guest star appearances span from the early days of HILL STREET BLUES and ST. ELSEWHERE to the more recent LAW AND ORDER and WITHOUT A TRACE.
He currently divides his time between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he has a home with his wife, director Heidi Mueller Smith, and Los Angeles and New York where he makes his living. He is the proud parent of Madeline Smith, an 18-year-old student at Barnard College in New York, and three step-children: Brianne, living and working in New York; Christopher, a sophomore in the theatre conservatory at Roosevelt University in Chicago; and Evan, at the Milwuakee Area Techinical College.
