Jean E. Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actress. She is best known for the roles of Charlene Frazier Stillfield on Designing Women and Martha Logan on 24. She is currently playing Regina Newly on the ABC sitcom Samantha Who.
Smart was born in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of Kay and Douglas Smart, a teacher. The second of four children, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was thirteen. She is a 1969 graduate of Ballard High School, located in Seattle. It is there that she gained an interest in acting in the drama program. Smart is a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, from University of Washington.
Smart starred as the character Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the comedy series Designing Women from 1986 to 1991.
Her own series, High Society, co-starring Mary McDonnell, lasted just 13 episodes in 1995.
She was in The Brady Bunch Movie as Mrs. Dittmeyer, the sexy wife of the Bradys' sinister neighbor. She is very unhappy with her husband and has desires for the men in the Brady family. In the end credits, she kisses Mike Brady in the ear (which he enjoys) and incurs the wrath of his wife, Carol.
Recent appearances on the big screen include Disney's The Kid, Sweet Home Alabama, Bringing Down The House, Neil Simon's The Odd Couple II and Garden State. She provided the voice of the alcoholic chain-smoking Pickles Oblong on The Oblongs, and guest starred on Frasier as Dr. Frasier Crane's short-fused high school crush, Lana Gardner (for which she received two Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series").
In the early 2000's, Jean Smart played the role of Supervisor of Detectives and ex-wife to Chief Jack Mannion of the Metropolitan Police Department on The District.
In 2002 she voiced Dr. Anne Possible in Kim Possible.
She was a cast member of 2004's short-lived sitcom Center of the Universe.
In January 2006, Smart joined the cast of 24 playing the mentally-unhinged First Lady of the United States, Martha Logan, to actor Gregory Itzin's President Charles Logan. Her work was critically praised and she received back-to-back Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama for the role in 2006 and 2007.
The actress is currently starring on the sitcom Samantha Who? as Samantha's overbearing mother. She is nominated for the 2008 Emmy award for best supporting actress in a comedy series for that role.
Smart is married to actor Richard Gilliland, whom she met while working on the set of Designing Women (He played J.D. Shackelford, the boyfriend of Annie Potts' character, Mary Jo). They have one son, Connor. Gilliland played Captain Stan Cotter on 24 while Smart joined the cast as Martha Logan for season 5. (He was in the 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. episode.)
She has been a supporter of Senator John Edwards and contributed to his presidential campaign in 2004.
