Jimmy Smits

He was married to Barbara, his high school love from 1981 to 1987. He has two children with Barbara; a daughter Taina born in 1973 and a son, Joaquin born in 1983.

Presently he lives with actress Wanda De Jesus with whom he is romantically associated since 1986.

He is quite committed to the Latino community. He co-founded ‘The National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts’ in 1997 that aims at promoting Hispanic talents. His work for the community saw him being honoured with the ‘Ackerman Leadership Award’ in 2015.

Jimmy Smits was born on July 9, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York in the US as the eldest child and only son of Cornelis Leendert Smits and Emilina (née Pola). His father was of Dutch descent and came from Paramaribo, Surinam, managed a silk-screening factory while his mother was a Puerto Rican.

He and his two sisters, Yvonne and Diana were brought up mainly in Brooklyn in a working class neighborhood by his family who were devoted Roman Catholics. As a child he also spent time in Puerto Rico; he identifies himself as a Puerto Rican and visits the place frequently.

He studied and graduated from ‘Thomas Jefferson High School’ in Brooklyn where he also remained active both as an athlete and as an actor.

While in teens he developed a keen interest in acting that eventually saw him quitting his school’s football team so as to dedicate his time more on plays and musicals of the school. In 1980 he obtained his bachelor's degree from ‘Brooklyn College’.

He then attended ‘Cornell University’ from where he earned ‘Master of Fine Arts’ in 1982.

He toured across the US during early 1980s performing in off-Broadway and repertory productions and eventually earned great appreciation. Some of the plays he worked included ‘Cabaret’ and ‘Loose Ends’ (both in 1982). With time he started getting part roles in big screen flicks as well as TV productions.

One of his early roles, small yet notable, was that of Eddie Rivera, the ill-fated partner of detective James "Sonny" Crockett portrayed by Don Johnson in the American television crime drama series ‘Miami Vice’. His part featured only in the two-hour premiere of the series in 1984.

In 1986 he landed up with a supporting role of Julio Gonzales, a drug dealer in the action-comedy flick ‘Running Scared’.

The role that gave him real breakthrough, name and recognition was that of attorney Victor Sifuentes in the television legal drama series ‘L.A. Law’. The weekly series that ran on NBC for 8 seasons starting from September 15, 1986 was both a critical and commercial success.

He regularly performed in the first 5 of 8 seasons of ‘L.A. Law’ and then made guest appearances in the 6th season featuring in overall 107 episodes of the series. His brilliant performance earned him the prestigious ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series’ in 1990.

The characterisation of Victor Sifuentes of ‘L.A. Law’ shot him to fame and stardom and with such portrayal he also broke new ground for other Latino actors paving their way to different other roles instead of playing criminals only.

The part of Simone in ‘NYPD Blue’ emerged as one of his most memorable and acclaimed performances thus earning him both repute and fan base. It fetched him awards including ‘Golden Globe Awards’ for ‘Best Actor - Television Series Drama’ in 1996 apart from many Emmy nominations.