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Jean Smart
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Jean Smart smiles and holds her Emmy trophy while posing in front of a backdrop with Emmy logos at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. Cast of Designing Women posing together and smiling. Front row: Annie Potts, Meshach Taylor, Jean Smart. Back row: Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Alice Ghostley. Jean Smart as Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as Ava stand in a narrow hallway lined with framed photos, looking at the pictures on the wall in a scene from Hacks.
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Jean Smart smiles and holds her Emmy trophy while posing in front of a backdrop with Emmy logos at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Jean Smart American actress Jean Smart holding the Emmy Award she won for her role in Hacks in 2025.

Jean Smart

American actress
Also known as: Jean Elizabeth Smart
Written by
Stephanie Triplett
Stephanie Triplett is a freelance writer and academic editor based in Chicago.
Stephanie Triplett
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Jean Smart (born September 13, 1951, Seattle, Washington, U.S.) is an American actress recognized for her long, eclectic career in a range of comedic and dramatic roles, most notably as caustic stand-up comic Deborah Vance in the HBO comedy-drama television series Hacks and office manager and Southern belle Charlene Frazier-Stillfield in the comedy series Designing Women. Her other notable TV credits include Mare of Easttown, Fargo, and Frasier. Smart won five Emmy Awards in consecutive...

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