J. Smith-Cameron

About J. Smith-Cameron

Who is it?: Actress
Birth Day: September 07, 1957
Alma mater: Florida State University
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1979–present
Spouse(s): Kenneth Lonergan (2000–present)
Children: Nellie

J. Smith-Cameron Net Worth

J. Smith-Cameron was born on September 07, 1957, is Actress. Gifted stage, film and TV actress J. Smith-Cameron was born Jeanie Smith in Louisville, Kentucky, and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, the daughter of an architect. Known simply as J. Smith by us students of the Florida State University School of Theatre program in the mid-1970s, I was privileged to work with and witness firsthand the extent of J.'s talent early in the game. A slender figure with tight, curly hair and intent, hooded eyes, she showed amazing talent and potential back then. Despite her age, she made a dazzling young "Anne Frank" in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and an equally touching and memorable "Helen Keller" in "The Miracle Worker". She was a wonderfully bizarre "Honey" in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and showed off her skill and versatility in an all-female version of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew". J.'s older sister, JoAnn, also attended FSU at the time and performed with me in a production of the classic Iranian allegory, "The Butterfly" (Shaparak Khanoom), by Bijan Mofid, directed by his actor/brother Ardavan Mofid. JoAnn later became a teacher.J. made her film debut while at FSU, starring in the acclaimed low-budget production of Gal Young Un (1979), directed by Victor Nunez, who later helmed Ulee's Gold (1997). The film, which was shot in Florida, starred and featured several fellow FSU alumni including David Peck, Marc H. Glick, Tim McCormack, Gil Lazier (FSU acting teacher), and Randy Ser (who later won an Emmy as production designer for the Whitney Houston version of The Wonderful World of Disney: Cinderella (1997)). The film would not be released until a few years later in 1979, years after they all graduated. Following college, J. Smith added the hyphenated "Cameron" name to her moniker as both a tribute to her great-grandmother and in order to avoid confusion once she joined Actor's Equity. Her peers in college all knew it wouldn't take long for J. to establish herself. A remarkably unique and impressionable lady both on and off stage, J. has the requisite flair for playing neurotic, off-the-wall characters, both comic and tragic. Abnormality has been a specialty on her menu and most often the delightful main course. By 1982, J. was showcasing on Broadway as the crazy, suicidal "Babe" in Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart". She never had to look back. In the course of her veteran on- and off-Broadway career, J. has received a Tony nomination for "Our Country's Good" (1991), an Outer Critics Circle award for "Lend Me a Tenor" (1989) and an Obie award for her flashy, no-holds-barred portrayal in "As Bees in Honey Drown" (1997). Other successes have included "Wild Honey", "Tartuffe", "The Memory of Water" and "Night Must Fall" with Matthew Broderick.Her TV and film work has become stronger and more frequent with each decade. She has shown that, even in the smallest role, she can draw attention to herself, as witnessed by her hysterically funny bit as a sexual compulsive in the gay film Jeffrey (1995). She has played various mom parts, some more stable than others, in such films as Harriet the Spy (1996), and The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999). J. met and, later married, playwright/film writer Kenneth Lonergan. They are the parents of daughter, Nellie. She was featured as "Mabel", the secretary, in Lonergan's Oscar-nominated breakthrough play-turned-film You Can Count on Me (2000), which made film stars out of Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo. One of her latest roles of interest was as a shifter/lowlife mother in the cult TV favorite Thuan Huyet (2008). The diverse range of her talent is what still separates J. from the much of the pack, and should certainly serve her well for years to come.
J. Smith-Cameron is a member of Actress

💰J. Smith-Cameron Net worth: $12 Million

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Biography/Timeline

1979

Smith-Cameron was born Jean Isabel Smith in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of Architect Richard Sharpe Smith. She was raised in Greenville, South Carolina, and attended Florida State University for one year, where she was enrolled in the School of Theatre. There she met film Director Victor Nuñez, who cast her as a lead in his film Gal Young 'Un (1979)

1982

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

1994

She has appeared in many Off-Broadway plays, including at the Public Theater, the Second Stage Theatre, and Playwrights Horizons. She appeared in the Paul Rudnick play The Naked Truth Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1994. She received a Drama Desk Award nomination for this production.

1997

She won an Obie Award for the Off-Broadway Drama Department production As Bees in Honey Drown (1997), which also earned her a Drama Desk nomination and Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, Outstanding Actress In A Play. Additional nominations include the Drama Desk Award for Sarah, Sarah (2004) and the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in the play Our Country's Good.

1999

In November 1999 through April 2000, she appeared in Fuddy Meers as Claire at New York City Center, Stage II, for which she received a nomination for the Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Actress in a Play. In March through June 2004, she appeared in the Manhattan Theatre Club Off-Broadway production of Sarah, Sarah. In November through December 2009, she appeared Off-Broadway at the Acorn Theatre in her husband's (Kenneth Lonergan) play The Starry Messenger. From October 2013 to December 2013, she starred in the Off-Broadway Irish Repertory Theater production of Juno and the Paycock as Juno Boyle. The New York Times reviewer wrote: "In one of the finest performances of her distinguished career on the New York stage, Ms. Smith-Cameron imbues her Juno with a steely pragmatism, but more important an emotional pliancy that makes her more prepared than the rest of her clan to beat back the onslaughts of ill fortune that beset them."