Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American film, television and stage actress. She starred from 1986 to 1991 as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won two for her role as Lana Gardener on the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–01), and one for playing Regina Newley on ABC's Samantha Who? (2007–09).

Smart began her career in regional theatre in Seattle and played Lady Macbeth at the Pittsburgh theatre in 1980. She made her Broadway debut in the 1981 production of Piaf, playing Marlene Dietrich. In 1992, she played the title role in the TV movie Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story. In 2000, she starred in the Broadway revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances include The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), The Odd Couple II (1998), Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and Bringing Down the House (2003). Her other television roles include The District (2000–04), 24 (2006–07), Harry's Law (2011–12), and Fargo (2015).

Biography

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 Shively). They have a son, Connor Douglas (born 1989) and a daughter, Bonnie Kathleen (adopted as a baby from China in May 2009). Gilliland played Captain Stan Cotter on 24 while Smart later played First Lady Martha Logan on the same series.

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