Smith, Anna Deavere (1950–)

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Smith, Anna Deavere (1950–)

African-American playwright and actress. Born Sept 18, 1950, in Baltimore, Maryland; attended Beaver College; American Conservatory Theatre, MFA, 1976; never married.

Taught at Carnegie-Mellon, Yale, Stanford, Harvard and New York universities; came to national prominence for solo shows, Fire in the Mirror (1993) and Twilight, Los Angeles: 1992, for which she was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Actress and Best Play; had a recurring role as Nancy McNally on "West Wing" (2000–04); received MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant (1996); wrote Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics (2000).

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