Jean Smart was born in 1951 in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Daughter of Kay Y Douglas smart, is the second of 4 siblings. At 13 years old, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Attended the Ballard High School, in Seattle, where he participated in the drama program and became interested in acting.
Smart is a member of the Alpha Delta Pi Society of the University of Washington.
He began his career appearing in regional plays and Off-Broadway productions during the 1970s.
Debuted in Broadway Interpreting Marlene dietrich in the work “Piaf”, 1981, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his performance in the production “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”From Off-Broadway.
On television he began playing small roles in the late 70’s and early 80’s in shows like “The Facts of Life“,”Alice” Y “Remington Steele” among others.
His big leap came with the role of Charlene Frazier Stillfield in the comic series “Designing Women”, In which he was between 1986 and 1991.
After this, Smart he worked mainly in television movies and small roles on the big screen.
She played the serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the television film “Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story”, From 1992, to Ory Baxter in the TV version of “The Yearling”, In 1994, to Sally brewton in the mini series “Scarlett”, From 1995, already Mrs. Dittmeyer in “The Brady Bunch Movie”Of the same year.
Next to Mary McDonnell starred in his own series called “High Society”, But without much success since it was canceled after 13 episodes.
In 1998 he co-starred with Nancy mckeon the sitcom of CBS, “Style & Substance”.
In 2000, her career rose again when she played Lana Gardner in “Frasier”, A role that earned him an award Emmy.
A year later she was nominated for an award Tony for his performance in “The Man Who Came to Dinner”.
In 2004 she was chosen to star in “Center of the Universe”, His fourth sitcom of CBS, in which they also worked John goodman Y Olympia Dukakis.
The following year he lent his voice to the character of the Dr. Anne Possible in the animated series “Kim possible”.
In 2006, Smart the cast of “24“In the role of the first lady of the United States, Martha logan. For this role he received two other nominations for the awards. Emmy.
Other of his television credits include participation in series such as “Hey Arnold!“,”Static Shock“,”In-Laws“,”The District” Y “American Dad!“, among other.
Currently she can be seen in the series “Samantha Who?”, In which she plays the mother of Samantha (Christina applegate). For this role he was made with a Emmy in 2008 by Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
In regards to her personal life, she is married to the actor Richard Gilliland, whom he met while participating in the series “Designing Women”. Together, they have a son named Connor.