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IMDbPro

J. Smith-Cameron

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterTop 50086
J. Smith-Cameron
Clemence Miller is coming home to live in her family's basement after dropping out of college with a newly diagnosed mental illness. Having to face her battered relationships and responsibilities of adulthood, she is driving everyone around her... crazy.
Play trailer2:27
The Year Between (2022)
11 Videos
36 Photos
Actress J. Smith-Cameron was born Jean Isabel Smith in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, the daughter of an architect. She was known simply as J. Smith by her fellow students at Florida State University School of Theatre program in the mid-1970s. Despite her age, she made for a completely believable teenage Anne Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank", was a touching and memorable Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker", was wonderfully bizarre as Honey in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and demonstrated great skill and versatility in an all-female version of "The Taming of the Shrew". Smith's older sister, actress Jo Ann Smith (who later became a teacher), also attended FSU at the same time and performed in a production of the classic Iranian allegory, "The Butterfly" ("Shaparak Khanoom") by Bijan Mofid and directed by his actor/brother, Ardavan Mofid.

She made her film debut while studying at FSU, starring in the acclaimed low-budget production of Gal Young Un (1979), directed by Victor Nunez, who later directed Ulee's Gold (1997). The film, shot in Florida, starred and featured several fellow FSU alumni, including David Peck, Marc H. Glick, Tim McCormack, Gil Lazier (FSU acting teacher), and Randy Ser (who later won an Emmy as production designer for the Whitney Houston version of Cinderella (1997)). The film was not released until 1979, several years after her college graduation. Following college, she added the hyphenated Cameron to her moniker as both a tribute to her great-grandmother and to avoid confusion once she joined Actors' Equity.

As "J. Smith-Cameron", she made her Broadway debut as the crazy, suicidal "Babe" in Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart" (as a replacement). She went on to make an award-worthy New York impression with a Tony nomination for "Our Country's Good" (1991), winning an Outer Critics Circle award for "Lend Me a Tenor" (1989), and an Obie for her no-holds-barred performance in "As Bees in Honey Drown" (1997). Other stage successes have included "Wild Honey", "The Memory of Water", "Night Must Fall", "Tartuffe", and "After the Night and the Music".

Her TV and film work has become stronger and more frequent with each decade. She has shown that, even in the smallest role, she can draw attention to herself, as evinced by her hysterically funny bit as a sexual compulsive in the gay film Jeffrey (1995). She has played various wife and/or mother parts, some more stable than others, in such films as Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Harriet the Spy (1996) and The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999). She also had strong roles in TV guest spots on such shows as The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1987), in a recurring role, plus such East Coast-based television series as "The Equalizer", "Homicide: Life on the Street", "Spin City", and "Law & Order".

She met and married playwright/film writer Kenneth Lonergan. They have a daughter, Nellie, who was featured as Mabel, the secretary, in Lonergan's Oscar-nominated breakthrough play-turned-film You Can Count on Me (2000), which made film stars out of Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, and was particularly effective in Margaret (2011). Other film projects have included The First Wives Club (1996), In & Out (1997), Bittersweet Place (2005), Man on a Ledge (2012), Like Sunday, Like Rain (2014), and, most recently, True Blood (2008) (as a shape-shifter), as a tormented mother in Rectify (2013), and as "Gerri" in the social drama Succession (2018).
BornSeptember 7, 1957
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornSeptember 7, 1957
IMDbProStarmeterTop 50086
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
    • 3 wins & 9 nominations total

Photos36

Brian Cox, Hope Davis, and J. Smith-Cameron in Succession (2018)
J. Smith-Cameron in Succession (2018)
Brian Cox and J. Smith-Cameron in Succession (2018)
J. Smith-Cameron in Christine (2016)
J. Smith-Cameron and Aden Young in Rectify (2013)
Clayne Crawford, J. Smith-Cameron, and Abigail Spencer in Rectify (2013)
J. Smith-Cameron in Rectify (2013)
J. Smith-Cameron and Abigail Spencer in Rectify (2013)
Clayne Crawford and J. Smith-Cameron in Rectify (2013)
Clayne Crawford, Luke Kirby, Bruce McKinnon, J. Smith-Cameron, Abigail Spencer, Aden Young, and Annette Brown in Rectify (2013)
J. Smith-Cameron in Rectify (2013)
Luke Kirby and J. Smith-Cameron in Rectify (2013)

Known for

Anna Paquin in Margaret (2011)
Margaret
6.5
  • Joan
  • 2011
Ed Harris, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Sam Worthington, Anthony Mackie, and Genesis Rodriguez in Man on a Ledge (2012)
Man on a Ledge
6.6
  • Psychiatrist
  • 2012
Ashton Kutcher, J. Smith-Cameron, Louanne Stephens, B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Isabella Amara, Issa Rae, Dove Cameron, and Eli Bickel in Vengeance (2022)
Vengeance
6.8
  • Sharon Shaw
  • 2022
Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Brian Cox, Peter Friedman, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, and Sarah Snook in Succession (2018)
Succession
8.9
TV Series
  • Gerri Kellman

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • In the Know
    • Barb (voice)
    • In Production
    • TV Series
  • Turtles All the Way Down
    • Post-production
  • Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Brian Cox, Peter Friedman, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, and Sarah Snook in Succession (2018)
    Succession
    • Gerri Kellman
    • TV Series
    • 2018–2023
  • Michael Shannon in Waco: The Aftermath (2023)
    Waco: The Aftermath
    • Lois Roden
    • TV Series
    • 2023
  • Claire Danes and Lizzy Caplan in Fleishman Is in Trouble (2022)
    Fleishman Is in Trouble
    • Barbara Hiller
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2022
  • Teenage Euthanasia (2021)
    Teenage Euthanasia
    • (voice)
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • Ashton Kutcher, J. Smith-Cameron, Louanne Stephens, B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Isabella Amara, Issa Rae, Dove Cameron, and Eli Bickel in Vengeance (2022)
    Vengeance
    • Sharon Shaw
    • 2022
  • Steve Buscemi, J. Smith-Cameron, Emily Robinson, Wyatt Oleff, and Alex Heller in The Year Between (2022)
    The Year Between
    • Sherri
    • 2022
  • J. Smith-Cameron and Nabiyah Be in White Wedding (2021)
    White Wedding
    • Clementine
    • Short
    • 2021
  • Search Party (2016)
    Search Party
    • Mary Ferguson
    • TV Series
    • 2017–2020
  • Gael García Bernal and Lola Kirke in Mozart in the Jungle (2014)
    Mozart in the Jungle
    • Amy Rutledge
    • TV Series
    • 2018
  • Andrea Riseborough in Nancy (2018)
    Nancy
    • Ellen
    • 2018
  • Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church in Divorce (2016)
    Divorce
    • Elaine Campbell
    • TV Series
    • 2016–2018
  • Aden Young in Rectify (2013)
    Rectify
    • Janet Talbot
    • TV Series
    • 2013–2016
  • No Pay, Nudity (2016)
    No Pay, Nudity
    • Debra
    • 2016
  • Rebecca Hall in Christine (2016)
    Christine
    • Peg
    • 2016
  • Julianna Margulies in The Good Wife (2009)
    The Good Wife
    • Samara Steel
    • TV Series
    • 2015

Soundtrack

  • Anna Paquin in Margaret (2011)
    Margaret
    • performer: "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
    • 2011

Videos11

The First Four Minutes
Clip 3:54
The First Four Minutes
Sweet Sixteen
Clip 1:48
Sweet Sixteen
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:27
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:19
Official Trailer
Elizabeth Banks Speaks
Trailer 2:29
Elizabeth Banks Speaks
U.S. Version
Trailer 2:26
U.S. Version
U.S. Version
Trailer 2:19
U.S. Version
Margaret
Trailer 2:19
Margaret
The Rage: Carrie 2
Trailer 0:31
The Rage: Carrie 2
Rectify
Trailer 1:01
Rectify
Rectify (Trailer 1)
Trailer 0:31
Rectify (Trailer 1)

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • J. Smith Cameron
  • Born
    • September 7, 1957
    • Louisville, Kentucky, USA
  • Spouse
    • Kenneth Lonergan2000 - present (1 child)
  • Other works
    Played "Dorine" in "Tartuffe", a play by Molière (American Airlines Theater, New York City, New York, USA).

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Was nominated for Broadway's 1991 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "Our Country's Good."
  • Trademark
      Frequently appears in her husband Kenneth Lonergan's films.

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