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Joseph Cotter Smith (born May 29, 1949) is an American stage, film, and television actor.

He was born inWashington, D.C., the son of Madeline (née Cotter) andJohn Lewis Smith, Jr., who was a federal judge.^[1] He graduated from theLawrenceville School in 1968.^[2] In 1972, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in literature^{[citation needed]} atTrinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.^[3]

Smith's grandfather was an attorney, as are his brother and sister, and he said, "It was sort of assumed that I would be a lawyer, too."^[3] Instead, when he finished college, he became a teacher. After a few years, however, his interest turned to acting.^[3]

He began his acting career inNew York City in 1978, studying withStella Adler and at theActors Studio. His New York theater credits include the Broadway premiere productions ofNext Fall, which was a 2010Tony Award nominee for Best New Play,Wendy Wasserstein'sAn American Daughter) andLanford Wilson'sBurn This. He also co-starred withJudd Hirsch in the National Tour of the Tony Award-winning playArt. His numerous Off Broadway appearances include thePublic Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production ofThe Tempest withSam Waterston;Paula Vogel'sPulitzer Prize-winningHow I Learned to Drive withMolly Ringwald;Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winningA Soldier's Play withDenzel Washington andSamuel L. Jackson;Michael Weller'sSide Effects withJoely Richardson;Athol Fugard'sThe Blood Knot withDanny Glover;Horton Foote'sThe Old Friends with Betty Buckley; and the American Premiere of theOlivier Award-winningCockfight Play, among many others. He was also a ten-year member of the Circle Repertory Company in New York working exclusively on the premiere productions of new American plays.

He is a co-founder ofThe Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where he has appeared inThe Seagull,The Homecoming,Endgame,Mad Forest, andHabeas Corpus. Other Los Angeles performances includeRomeo and Juliet,Love Letters, andRaft of the Medusa, as well as the West Coast premieres of "A Soldier's Play' andHow I Learned to Drive at theMark Taper Forum.

With his wife, Heidi Mueller Smith, he co-founded and served as Artistic Director of the Cornerstone Theatre Company inMilwaukee, Wisconsin from 2001 to 2007. Among his directing credits for the company areEdward Albee'sThe American Dream, Harold Pinter'sNight School, and Lanford Wilson'sThe Gingham Dog. His acting credits for the company include12 Angry Men,Betrayal,Long Day's Journey into Night, andEducating Rita.

Smith has been nominated four times by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, receiving the Outstanding Performance Award in 1996 forGeorge M. Cohan's "The Tavern". He has received fourDrama-Logue Awards and twoOvation Award nominations.

His television and film work ranges from his debut co-starring asRobert Kennedy (oppositeRobert Blake'sJimmy Hoffa) in the mini-seriesBlood Feud, to his role as the President of the United States in the 20th Century Fox film,X2: X-Men United. Over the years he has appeared in many television shows, from his regular roles on the ABC seriesEqual Justice andNight Stalker to his more recent appearances onThe Americans,Madam Secretary,Person of Interest,Forever, andThe Good Wife.

Smith is also an acting teacher, for the past six years at The New School for Drama in New York, where he also served as the Department Head of the MFA Acting Program from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that he taught for several years at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

Smith has been married to Heidi Mueller Smith since 2001. He was previously married to actressMel Harris, with whom he has his only child.

• Cotter Smith Official Website (archived)
• Cotter Smith atIMDb 
• Cotter Smith at theInternet Broadway Database

• 1949 births
• Living people
• American male stage actors
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• Male actors from Washington, D.C.
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• Lawrenceville School alumni
• Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni

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