J. Smith-Cameron

J. Smith-Cameron (born Jean Isabel Smith; September 7, 1957) is an American actress. She spent a majority of her career in theatre but began transitioning to film and television later in life. She is known for her supporting roles as Janet Talbot on the television series Rectify and Gerri Kellman on Succession.

Jean Isabel Smith was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of architect Richard Sharp Smith and granddaughter of architect Richard Sharp Smith. [1] She was raised in Greenville, South Carolina and attended Florida State University for one year, where she was enrolled in the School of Theatre, where she met film director Victor Nuñez, who cast her as a lead in his film Gal Young ‘Un (1979).[2] She additionally received acting training at HB Studio[3] in New York City.

She began being credited as “J. Smith” in college out of concern that her first name, Jeannie, was too girlish,[4] and added a family name, Cameron, when told by the Actors’ Equity Association that there was already a J. Smith, and there was a rule that two actors cannot have the same professional name.[5]

She made her Broadway debut in August 1982 when she replaced Mia Dillon as “Babe Botrelle” in Crimes of the Heart.[6][7][8] She appeared in the original Broadway cast of Lend Me a Tenor as “Maggie” in 1989.[9] The cast of that play won an Outer Critics Circle Award, Special Awards.[10] She appeared in the Broadway production of Our Country’s Good in 1991