Jimmy Smits

Biography

Jimmy Smits (born July 9, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor best known for playing congressman Matt Santos in The West Wing and senator Bail Organa in the Star Wars saga. His career spans film, television and theatre, and since the mid-1980s he has been one of the most recognizable Latino performers on American television.

He was born to a Surinamese-born typesetter and a Puerto Rican nurse, and grew up in a devout Catholic, working-class household. At ten he spent a couple of years in Puerto Rico, where he has said that a Spanish-only school was a jarring experience, since he did not yet speak the language. He later studied at Brooklyn College and then at Cornell, where he took part in the summer repertory programme at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca.

His first major role came on television. From 1986 to 1991 he played attorney Victor Sifuentes on L.A. Law, a part that earned him several Emmy nominations. The same year he made his feature debut in Running Scared, alongside Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines, and in 1989 he took the lead opposite Jane Fonda in Old Gringo. In the 1990s he gave one of his most acclaimed performances as Detective Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue, and in My Family he shared the screen with Edward James Olmos and Jennifer Lopez.

Later he returned to Star Wars as Bail Organa in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One and the series Obi-Wan Kenobi. On The West Wing he played Matt Santos in its final two seasons, a character who eventually wins the American presidency. He then joined Dexter, Sons of Anarchy and Bluff City Law, and in 2021 he appeared in the musical In the Heights.

His stage work includes Broadway productions such as Anna in the Tropics and God of Carnage. Beyond acting, he helped found the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to advance Latino presence in the media and entertainment industries. He remains active in film and television, and his legacy is tied to greater visibility for Latino performers in Hollywood.

Key films

• My Family (1995), in which he plays Jimmy Sánchez in a multigenerational Chicano family story.
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), where his senator Bail Organa becomes Leia's adoptive father.
• Old Gringo (1989), as General Tomás Arroyo, opposite Jane Fonda.
• Switch (1991), a romantic comedy in which he plays Walter Stone.
• The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), as Daniel Avila in an ensemble cast.
• In the Heights (2021), as Kevin Rosario in the film adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical.