Jimmy Smits

Jimmy Smits is an American actor born on July 9, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Cornelis Leendert Smits, was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, and was of Dutch descent, while his mother, Emilina, was Puerto Rican, born in Peñuelas. Smits grew up with two sisters, Yvonne and Diana, in a working-class neighborhood, and at age ten relocated to Puerto Rico for several years, an experience he described as jarring and traumatic given that he did not speak Spanish at the time. He was raised in a strict, devout Roman Catholic household and identifies as Puerto Rican. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, he earned a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1980 and an MFA from Cornell University in 1982.

Smits began his professional acting career in the early 1980s, performing in multiple productions at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York, Cornell's summer repertory program. His 1982 roles there included Max in Cabaret, Paul in Loose Ends, and the lead in Pudd'nhead Wilson. One of his earliest television appearances came in 1984, when he played Sonny Crockett's original partner in the first episode of Miami Vice, a character killed by a car bomb within the opening minutes. His feature film debut followed in 1986 in the comedy-action film Running Scared, in which he played drug dealer Julio Gonzalez alongside Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.

Beginning in 1986, Smits joined the cast of the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, playing attorney Victor Sifuentes for the series' first five seasons. The role earned him six Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and he won the award in 1990. He also received a Golden Globe Award for his subsequent work on NYPD Blue, the ABC police drama in which he starred as Detective Bobby Simone from 1994 to 1998, earning additional Emmy nominations and two ALMA Awards for the performance. In the early 2000s, Smits joined the final two seasons of NBC's The West Wing as Congressman Matt Santos of Houston, Texas, a character who ultimately wins the U.S. presidency. He won an ALMA Award for that role as well.

Smits has portrayed Bail Organa, Princess Leia's adoptive father, across multiple entries in the Star Wars franchise, beginning with Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in 2002 and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005. He reprised the role in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in 2008, the film Rogue One in 2016, and the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi in 2022. Among his other notable television work, he played ADA Miguel Prado in the third season of Dexter, earning a twelfth Primetime Emmy nomination and a Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television for the performance, and later reprised the role in the 2025 premiere of Dexter: Resurrection. He portrayed Nero Padilla in Sons of Anarchy beginning in season five, and starred as Elijah Strait in the NBC courtroom drama Bluff City Law, which premiered in 2019. His film credits include My Family (1995), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), and the musical film In the Heights (2021), in which he played Kevin Rosario.

Smits's Broadway career spans 2003 to 2009. In 2003, he starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz, performed at the Royale Theatre. From November 2009 to February 2010, he appeared in God of Carnage opposite Christine Lahti, Annie Potts, and Ken Stott, replacing Jeff Daniels in the production. Prior to those Broadway engagements, Smits participated in the Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival, playing Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night in 2002 and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing in 2004. He also appeared in The Motherfucker with the Hat at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company from December 2012 through March 2013.

Beyond performance, Smits co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, an organization dedicated to advancing Latino representation in media, telecommunications, and entertainment. He received the HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors in 1999 and the Ackerman Leadership Award for his advocacy on behalf of bilingual and bicultural mental health and social services for Latino families. On June 4, 2021, he was awarded the 2,696th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Smits has been in a relationship with actress Wanda De Jesus since 1986, and the two live together in Los Angeles. He has two children from his previous marriage to Barbara Smits.