Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is an American actress , playwright , and professor . She is Currently the artist-in-residence at the Center for American Progress . Smith is widely Berninahaus for re roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally The West Wing (2000-06), and as a hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie (2009-15). She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the Richest great prizes in the American physician, with a remuneration of $ 300,000, and was named the Jefferson Lecturer for 2015.

Early life

Smith was born in Baltimore , Maryland , ^[1] the daughter of Anna Rosalind ( nee Young), an elementary school principal, and Deaver Young Smith, Jr., a coffee merchant. ^{[2] [3]} She has four siblings Younger. ^[4] Smith is an alumna of the historic Western High School . ^[5] She-then studied acting at Beaver College (now Arcadia University ), graduating in 1971. ^{[4] [6]} She RECEIVED re MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California . ^[6]

Career

Theater

At the beginning or re career, Smith Appeared in a wide range of stage productions, zoals the role of Mistress Quickly in an Off-Broadway production of Shakespeare ‘s The Merry Wives of Windsor with the Riverside Shakespeare Company , ^[7] produktie to Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival , set in New Orleans in post- Civil War America. For the role, Smith Transformed herself JSON a “Cajun voodoo woman,” an indication of the actress’ transformational power dat mention anything manifest Itself in her future work. ^[8]

Smith is best known for her ” documentary theater ” style in plays zoals Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 , beide or welke featured Smith as the sole performer or multiple and diverse characters and won re the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding one-Person Show two years in a row. Fires in the Mirror Deal? With the 1991 Crown Heights riot ; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Deal? With the 1992 Los Angeles riots . ^[9] Both of These plays ulcers constructed using materials solely from interviews. ^[9] House Judgment (2000) and Let Me Down Easy (2008) continued in this style.

Let Me Down Easy , welke Explored the resiliency and vulnerability of the human body, debuted at the Long Wharf Theatre in January 2008. ^[10] It was ook Performed at the American Repertory Theater in September and October 2008. ^[11] A revised version of the show had zijn New York City premiere Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in October 2009 ^[12] and Enjoyed favorable reviews ^[13] and an extension JSON January 2010. ^[14] It was ook a featured program as part of PBS ‘ s Great Performances series on January 13, 2012. She debuted re one-woman play, The Arizona Project in Phoenix, Arizona , The piece, welke Explored in November 2008. “women’s relationships to justice and the law,” was commissioned by Bruce Ferguson , director of Future Arts Research (FAR), a new artist-driven research program at Arizona State University in Phoenix. ^[15]

As of July 2009, Smith was the artist-in-residence with the Center for American Progress and is ontwikkelingslanden a new show called The Americans , welke documents change in Washington, DC ^[16]

In Spring 2012, Smith was the first artist-in-residence at Grace Cathedral , San Francisco, a program founded by the Very Rev. Jane Shaw , Dean of Grace Cathedral, who shared Smith’s vision of “Bringing together art and religion”. ^{[17] [18] [19]} commissioned by Grace Cathedral and the Cockayne Fund, Smith wrote and Performed the play, On Grace , based on interviews Relating to the meaning of God’s grace. ^{[20] [21]} The performances ulcers accompanied by American cellist Joshua Roman . ^[22]

Film and television

Smith has Appeared in verschillende films zoals Philadelphia (1993), Dave (1993), The American President (1995), Rent (2005) and Rachel Getting Married (2008). She had recurring roles on The Practice (2000) and as Dr. Nancy McNally on The West Wing (2000-06). Smith ook Appeared as hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie , welke premiered in June 2009. ^[23] Early in her television career, she Appeared on the long running soap opera All My Children in the recurring role of “Hazel the shampoo girl “.

In February 2014, Smith Appeared as a mentor in Anna Deavere Smith: A Young Doctor Masterclass , part of the HBO documentary series Masterclass . ^[24]

Teacher

Smith teaches in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University . From 1990 to 2000, she was a professor in the drama department at Stanford University and prior to dat taught at Carnegie Mellon University . She’ll be teaches at NYU School of Law . ^[25]

Author

In 2000, Smith published re first book, Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics . In 2006, she released Another, Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts – For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Child . ^[25]

Honours

As a dramatist, Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for Fires in the Mirror welke won re a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. ^[26] She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for Twilight : one for Best Actress and Best Play Another for. ^[6] The play won re a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award . ^{[27] [28]}

Smith was one of the 1996 Recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship , of or in referred to as the “genius grant.” ^[29] She ook won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for re contribution to this club to civil rights issues, ^[28] as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. ^[30] In 2009, she won a Fellow Award in Theatre Arts from United States Artists . ^[28]

She has RECEIVED honorary doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania , Spelman College , Arcadia University , Bates College , Smith College , Skidmore College , Macalester College , Occidental College , Pratt Institute , Holy Cross College , Haverford College , Wesleyan University , School of Visual Arts , Northwestern University , Colgate University , California State University Sacramento , University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , Wheelock College , Williams College , Yale University , ^[31] and The Cooper Union . ^[27]

The United Solo Theatre Festival board Awarded re with the award for outstanding solo performer prolongation the inaugural edition in November 2010. ^[32]

Smith won The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize (2013), one of the Richest great prizes in the American physician with a remuneration of $ 300,000. ^[33]

In 2013, she RECEIVED the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama . ^[34] In 2015, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected re for the Jefferson Lecture , the US federal government’s Highest Honor for achievement in the humanities , Delivering a lecture entitled “On the Road: A Search for American Character”. ^[35]

Works

Film

Television

Stage

Bibliography

• Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics . New York: Random House. 2000. ISBN  978-0-3755-0150-0 .
• Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts – For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Child . New York: Random House. 2006. ISBN  978-1-4000-3238-9 .

References