The Meryl Streep of TV

Jean Smart, star of HBO Max's comedy Hacks, can play just about anything

- H. ALAN SCOTT

TELEVISION

LIKE MERYL STREEP, JEAN SMART has been equally brilliant in both comedies and dramas, And as Streep has done in the movies, Smart has won every major acting award television has got. Now she is at the top of her game and busier than ever thanks to her Emmy-winning turn as Deborah Vance, a seasoned and cynical stand-up comic, in Hacks. The HBO Max original series began its second season May 12.

On top of all that, Smart is beloved in her industry. Speaking with her via Zoom, it's easy to see why; she somehow combines movie star glamour and beauty with an ability to put you immediately at ease.

"We've spoken before, no?" she asks. We haven't, of course, but it feels like we have. Over the course of our conversation, she flashes her trademark smile and flows easily from cracking devilish jokes to showing the kind of emotion you'd usually reserve for close friends. Which makes sense, considering her years on TV. She's been in our homes for over 40 years, making us laugh and cry; she's family.

"It's always very gratifying to win something for a project you're really, really proud of," Smart says about her Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series last year for Hacks. But the moment was bittersweet. Her husband, actor Richard Gilliland, had died shortly before the first season wrapped. "It was just too ironic. I didn't even try to get any meaning out of it in terms of why is this happening now? It will always be intertwined with losing him."