Jimmy Smits

Jimmy Smits

Birth : 1955-07-09, Brooklyn, New York, USA

History

Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as U.S. Congressman Matt Santos on The West Wing. He is also notable for his portrayal of Bail Organa in the Star Wars franchise, and Miguel Prado in Dexter. Beginning in 1986, Smits played Victor Sifuentes in the first five seasons of the NBC television Steven Bochco legal drama L.A. Law, for which he was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1990. In 1999, Smits received the HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA). He appeared in films including Switch (1991), My Family (1995), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007). Smits appeared as Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), in which the character becomes Princess Leia's adoptive father. He reappeared as Bail Organa in the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) and the spinoff movie Rogue One (2016). He later reprised the role for Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). Smits played the role of Congressman Matt Santos of Houston, Texas, in the final two seasons of the NBC television drama The West Wing. In Dexter season 3, he played the role of Miguel Prado, an assistant district attorney who befriends the title character. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role. He portrayed the character Alex Vega in the CBS TV series Cane, which aired from September 25, 2007, to December 18, 2007, and was subsequently canceled by the network due to the 2007 Screen Writer's Guild strike. In the fall of 2010, he starred in NBC's short-lived series Outlaw, about a U.S. Supreme Court justice who leaves the bench to return to practicing law. From 2012 to 2014, he joined the main cast of Sons of Anarchy as Nero Padilla. He also portrayed Elijah Strait in the short-lived NBC drama series Bluff City Law. He starred in The Get Down, a musical drama television series which debuted in 2016 on Netflix. In 2021, He played Kevin Rosario in the musical film In the Heights. He stars as Chief John Suarez on the CBS police drama East New York.

Profile

Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits
Jimmy Smits

Movies

Andor: A Disney+ Day Special Look
Bail Organa (uncredited) (archive footage)
Celebrate Disney+ Day with a special look at the Star Wars original series Andor coming to Disney+ on September 21.
In the Heights
Kevin Rosario
The story of Usnavi, a bodega owner who has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic or staying in Washington Heights.
The Tax Collector
The Wizard
David Cuevas is a family man who works as a gangland tax collector for high ranking Los Angeles gang members. He makes collections across the city with his partner Creeper making sure people pay up or will see retaliation. An old threat returns to Los Angeles that puts everything David loves in harm’s way.
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage
Self
Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage is a warm and revealing portrait of the charismatic, groundbreaking actor’s journey from his native Puerto Rico to the creative hotbed of 1960s New York City, to prominence on Broadway and in Hollywood. Filled with passion, determination and joy, Juliá’s brilliant and daring career was tragically cut short by his untimely death at age 54.
Who We Are Now
Carl
Recently released from prison, Beth is working with her public defender to get her son back from her sister, who was awarded legal custody while Beth was incarcerated for ten years. Soon after, Beth forms an unlikely alliance with Jess, an idealistic young protégé of the public defense team, who decides to take on Beth's cause whether she likes it or not.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Bail Organa
A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy.
Mother and Child
Paco
The lives of three women have a commonality: adoption. Karen is a physical therapist who regrets that, as a teenager, she gave up her daughter for adoption. Elizabeth was an adopted child and is now a successful lawyer, but her personal life lacks warmth. Lucy and her husband have failed to conceive and now hope to adopt a baby to make their family complete.
Backyard
Mickey Santos
An astonishing fictional account of the unending series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which began in 1996. Most of the victims are low-paid laborers who have been drawn to the town by the possibility of work at American-owned factories. In the film Mexican police officer Blanca Bravo is sent to Cuidad Juarez to investigate and comes to learn realities of these women's lives, as well as the truth about a police force and local power structure embodied by entrepreneur Mickey Santos that has ceased to care.
Roberto Clemente
Narrator
Roberto Clemente is an in-depth look at an exceptional baseball player and committed humanitarian who challenged racial discrimination to become baseball's first Latino superstar. Featuring interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors David Maraniss and George F. Will; Clemente's wife Vera; Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda; and former teammates, the documentary presents an intimate and revealing portrait of a man whose passion and grace made him a legend.
The Jane Austen Book Club
Daniel
Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen. As they delve into Austen's literature, the club members find themselves dealing with life experiences that parallel the themes of the books they are reading.
¡Yo soy Boricua, pa' que tú lo sepas!
Himself
Actress Rosie Perez makes a stunning directorial debut in this heartfelt tribute to Puerto Rican pride. She takes an in-depth look at the complex and often controversial history of Puerto Rican-U.S. relations. By turns shocking and celebratory, this wide-ranging documentary examines such rich themes of the Puerto Rican experience as family, language, and racism, all with careful consideration of historical context.
A Concert for Hurricane Relief
Self
A Hurricane Katrina relief concert. After Louisiana was destroyed by Katrina, famous stars all came together and put on this concert, which aired on over 20 television stations, including NBC, TV Guide Channel, ABC, CBS, PAX, FOX, Cinemax, TBS, and USA.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Senator Bail Organa
The evil Darth Sidious enacts his final plan for unlimited power -- and the heroic Jedi Anakin Skywalker must choose a side.
Lackawanna Blues
Ruben Santiago Sr.
In a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Senator Bail Organa
Following an assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Amidala, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi investigate a mysterious plot that could change the galaxy forever.
America: A Tribute to Heroes
A benefit concert and telethon organized by George Clooney and broadcast uninterrupted and commercial-free by the four major television networks just 10 days after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon to raise money for the victims and their families,
Bless the Child
Agent John Travis
When Maggie's sister Jenna saddles her with an autistic newborn named Cody she touches Maggie's heart and becomes the daughter she has always longed for. But six years later Jenna suddenly re-enters her life and, with her mysterious new husband, Eric Stark, abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently murdered children.
Price of Glory
Arturo Ortega
An ex-boxer, living with the knowledge that his fight career was cut short by a crooked manager, channels his bitter disappointment in a single-minded quest for boxing championships for his three sons. We see them in pee-wee Silver Glove matches with dad constantly pushing them. Ten years later, they're young men, with dad as both father and manager. A professional promoter, Nick Everson, wants to sign the boys, but dad rejects those offers. Then, in expressions of their varied relationships with their father, each son makes his own decisions. Can dad ever step aside, and can the family hold together?
Adventures in Wild California
Narrator
A visit to many of the places and people that give California its reputation as a place of extremes. Among the major segments: Sky surfing in the San Diego area; the movies, including a trip down the Oscar ceremony red carpet, the shooting of a stagecoach ride, and some memories of Walt Disney, including a roller coaster ride in Disneyland; some snowboarding and skiing stunts; a trip to the top, and then deep inside, some giant sequoias; biologists working with otters and bald eagle hatchlings; and a trip to the top of the Golden Gate bridge with the ironworkers who maintain it
The Million Dollar Hotel
Geronimo
The Million Dollar Hotel starts with a jump from a roof top that clears up a death in a hotel that was burning to the ground where a lot of strange people had been living.
Lesser Prophets
Mike
The police have three bookies under surveillance, but they escape and set up shop elsewhere. By chance, one of the police finds them; instead of turning them in, he demands money that his brother, now a suicide, had lost to them
Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special
Old King Cole (voice)
Whoopi Goldberg is the voice of Mother Goose in this all-star, all-rhyming tale set in multi-ethnic nursery-rhyme land.
Murder in Mind
Peter Walker
The L.A. police find two bodies in a fancy house and suspect the wife of one victim. Dr. Ellis, a hypnotherapist, takes her back in time; with the police listening, a pattern of spousal abuse emerges. When each trance ends, however, the woman, Carolyn Walker, wonders if those repressed memories are true. Dr. Ellis guides her through her trial, testifies himself, and continues treatment after the verdict is in. Carolyn's memory and well-being get worse after the trial, not better. She misses some therapy sessions, and Dr. Ellis comes to see her at home. Snatches of memory come and go. Can he help her remember what really happened? Are the cops satisfied justice has been done?
Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western
Self
Interviews and film clips re-create the glorious history of the American western.
Marshal Law
Jack Coleman
A former cop in Texas comes into action when a gang threatens his family.
Animal Charm: Golden Digest
Himself (Archival Footage)
Animal Charm makes videos from other people's videos. By compositing TV and reducing it to a kind of tic-ridden babble, they force television to not make sense. While this disruption is playful, it also reveals an overall 'essence' of mass culture that would not be apprehended otherwise. Videos such as Stuffing, Ashley, and Lightfoot Fever upset the hypnotic spectacle of TV viewing, revealing how advertising creates anxiety, how culture constructs "nature" and how conventional morality is dictated through seemingly neutral images. By forcing television to convulse like a raving lunatic, we might finally hear what it is actually saying.
My Family
Jimmy
Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.
Solomon & Sheba
King Solomon
In the land of Israel, Solomon (Jimmy Smits) is trying to figure out a way to become the world’s supplier of frankincense. He sends an envoy to the tiny country of Sheba to announce his intentions. The Queen of Sheba, Nikaule (Halle Berry), is outraged by Solomon’s greedy plan.
The Cisco Kid
Cisco Kid
This update of the 1950 western TV series changes Cisco and Pancho from wandering heroes of the old west to somewhat anti-"gringo" Mexican revolutionaries.
Gross Misconduct
Justin Thorne
Justin Thorne is a liberal arts professor. One of his college students is Jennifer Carter. She seduces Justin, then accuses him of rape. But it turns out that she has an unusual relationship with her father.
The Broken Cord
David Norwell
Fact-based story of an idealistic single dad who discovers that his beloved Native American adopted son is afflicted with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and complicates his life with the woman who becomes his wife.
Fires Within
Nestor
A Cuban emigre, living in Miami and involved in an affair with the American seaman who rescued her and her daughter years earlier, must face her husband after he is unexpectedly released from a Cuban prison.
Switch
Walter Stone
Steve Brooks, a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he must have a sincere relationship with a female and make her fall in love with him. If not, Steve's soul will become the property of the devil. But the devil hedges his bet, and Steve is reincarnated as a woman named Amanda Brooks.
Vital Signs
Dr. David Redding
As they enter their third year of medical school, a group of young students must prepare to decide what they intend to specialize in. Somehow, they must impress the Chief of Surgery while learning how to survive the life-and-death area of medicine and the complexity of their everyday lives.
Old Gringo
Gen. Tomas Arroyo
When school teacher Harriet Winslow goes to Mexico to teach, she is kidnapped by Gen. Tomas Arroyo and his revolutionaries. An aging American, Ambrose "Old Gringo" Bierce also in Mexico, befriends Gen. Arroyo and meets Harriet. Bierce is a famous writer, who knowing that he is dying, wishes to keep his identity secret so he can determine his own fate. Though he likes Arroyo, Bierce tries to provoke the General's anger whenever possible in an attempt to get himself killed, thus avoiding suffering through his illness. Winslow is intrigued by both Bierce and Arroyo, and the men are in turn attracted to her. She becomes romantically involved with Arroyo. When Winslow learns of Bierce's true identity (a writer whose work she has loved and respected for years), she is singlemindedly determined to fulfill his dying wish. Written by E.W. DesMarais
Mickey's 60th Birthday
Victor Sifuentes
This film combines live action/original animation and library animation. Mickey steals a magic hat from a Sorcerer and is put under a spell by the angry magi so that no one will recognize him until he finds his own magic within. While Mickey is on his quest, network news teams around the country desperately try to find the famous, beloved mouse who has mysteriously disappeared. On his quest, Mickey goes into the "Cheers" bar, meets up with the characters from "Family Ties", and winds up on Disneyland's Main Street the night before his Birthday celebration is to take place. It is there that he finds he has all the magic inside him that he will ever need. The spell is broken and the Birthday bash commences as the whole World celebrates the beloved Mickey Mouse.
Glitz
Vincent Marra
Vincent Marra is a Miami cop on medical leave in Puerto Rico, where he's being stalked by a sex offender he testified against.
Stamp of a Killer
Richard Braden
A pregnant mother and her young son become the target of a killer.
The Believers
Tom Lopez
Mourning the accidental death of his wife and having just moved to New York with his young son, laconic police psychologist Cal Jamison is reluctantly drawn into a series of grisly, ritualistic murders involving the immolation of two youths.
Hotshot
Stars Team Member
The story of an American soccer player trying to make it big who turns to Pele, the greatest soccer player of all time, for guidance.
L.A. Law: Pilot
Victor Sifuentes
Pilot episode for the TV series introduces the lawyers and employees of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, a Los Angeles law firm, in dealing with their courtroom cases and personal matters out of the courthouse. While the entire office deals with the unexpected death of one of the founding senior partners, Norman Chaney, junior partner Michael Kuzak reluctantly takes on the defense of a wealthy and spoiled young man, accused with two friends, of raping a woman dying from leukemia. While intern Abby Perkins deals with her abusive alcoholic husband, divorce lawyer Arnie Becker takes advantage of his latest client caught up in her divorce. Public defender Victor Sifuentes is also offered to join the firm, while the ruthless managing partner, Douglas Brackman, deals with a surprising revelation from his new secretary.
Running Scared
Julio Gonzales
Two street-wise Chicago cops have to shake off some rust after returning from a Key West vacation to pursue a drug dealer that nearly killed them in the past.
Rockabye
2nd Policeman
A young woman, striking out on her own after having left her husband in California, has her young son snatched from her moments after getting off the bus in New York City on her way to Vermont, and reluctantly accepts the help of a hard-nosed reporter in tracking him down after being given the runaround from the police.
Miami Vice: Brother's Keeper
Eddie Rivera
Miami detective Sonny Crockett reluctantly teams with New York City cop Rico Tubbs when both of them end up pursuing a drug dealer who killed their respective partners.