Anna Deavere Smith

Infobox actor
name = Anna Deavere Smith


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caption = Smith delivered a keynote address to the "New Dimensions of Citizenship" conference at Fordham Law School in September 2006
birthdate = birth date and age|1950|09|18
birthplace = Baltimore, Maryland
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Anna Deavere Smith (born September 18, 1950) is a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize nominated African American actress, playwright, and professor.

Early life

Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Anna (née Young), an elementary school principal, and Deavere Young Smith, a coffee merchant. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/89/Anna-Deavere-Smith.html Anna Deavere Smith Biography (1950-) ] ] Smith is an alumna of Beaver College (now Arcadia University), graduating in 1971. She received her M.F.A. in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California.

Career

Theater

Smith is best known for her "documentary theatre" style in plays such as "Fires in the Mirror" and "", both of which featured Smith as the sole performer of multiple and diverse characters. "Fires in the Mirror" dealt with the 1991 Crown Heights Riot. "Twilight: Los Angeles 1992" dealt with the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Both of these plays were constructed using material solely from interviews and other pieces of the archive. "House Arrest" in 2000 and "Let Me Down Easy" in 2008 continued in this style.

"Let Me Down Easy" will be performed at the American Repertory Theatre beginning September 12, 2008. Smith will debut a new one-woman play, "The Arizona Project", exploring "women's relationships to justice and the law," in Phoenix, AZ, in November. The play was commissioned by Bruce Ferguson, director of Future Arts Research (F.A.R.), a new artist-driven research program at Arizona State University in Phoenix.

Earlier in her career, Smith had appeared in a wide range of stage productions, including the role of Mistress Quickly in an Off Broadway production of Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor" with the Riverside Shakespeare Company, produced by Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival, set in New Orleans in post Civil War America. For the role, Smith transformed herself into a "Cajun voodoo woman" - an indication of the actress's transformational power that would manifest itself in her future work. ["Wives of Windsor" [sic] make merry in city parks," by Patricia O'Haire, "The New York Daily News", July 26, 1983. For a picture of Smith in the role of Mistress Quickly see Riverside Shakespeare Company.]

Film and Television

Smith has appeared in several films, including "Philadelphia" and "The American President", and has recurring roles on "The West Wing" and "The Practice".

Teacher

Smith teaches in the Department of Performance Studies 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. She also teaches at NYU School of Law.

Author

In 2000 Smith published her 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 Kind".

Honors

As a dramatist Smith was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for "Fires in the Mirror" which won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. She was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1994 for "Twilight". One for Best Actress and another for Best Play. The play won her a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Theatre World Award.

Smith was one of the 1996 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the "genius grant." She also won a 2006 Fletcher Foundation Fellowship for her contribution to civil rights issues as well as a 2008 Matrix Award from the New York Women in Communications, Inc. [http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=311207]

She has received honorary degrees from Arcadia University, Bates College, Bryn Mawr 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, and the Cooper Union.

Filmography

* "All My Children" 1983 - Hazel
* "Philadelphia" 1993 - Anthea Burton
* "Dave" 1993 - Mrs. Travis
* "Fires in the Mirror" 1993 - Citizens of Crown Heights
* "The American President" 1995 - Robin McCall
* "The Practice" 2000 - District Attorney Kate Brunner
* "Presidio Med" 2002 TV Series - Dr. Letty Jordan
* "The West Wing" 2000-2004 - National Security Advisor Nancy McNally
* "The Human Stain" (2003) - Mrs. Silk
* "Rent" 2005 - Mrs. Jefferson
* "The Kingdom" (2007) - Deputy National Security Advisor

References

External links

*imdb|0807332
*ibdb|4155
* [http://www.filmreference.com/film/89/Anna-Deavere-Smith.html A thorough list of Anna Deavere Smith's stage, screen and writing credits]
* [http://www.roycecarlton.com/speaker_profile.php?ids=41 Speaker biography at Royce Carlton Incorporated]
* [http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/232/index.html Anna Deavere Smith PBS "Now"]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=KR8SwPmCFd4 Presentation by Anna Deavere Smith at the TED Conference February 2005]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ZOii3OQRI Speech by Anna Deavere Smith at Bates College Commencement 2007]