Jimmy Smits

Smits's father, Cornelis Leendert Smits (1929–2015), was from Paramaribo, Suriname, and was of Dutch descent.

Smits's mother, Emilina (née Pola; 1930–2015), was Puerto Rican, born in Peñuelas.

He and his two sisters, Yvonne and Diana, grew up in a working-class neighborhood.

When he was ten years old, he moved to Puerto Rico for a couple of years.

Until then he did not speak Spanish.

He described attending a Spanish-only school as "jarring" and "traumatic."

Smits was raised in a strict, devout Roman Catholic family.

He identifies as Puerto Rican and frequently visits Puerto Rico.

Smits was an athlete in his youth.

Jimmy L. Smits (born July 9, 1955) is an American actor.

He is best known for playing attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s–1990s legal drama L.A. Law, NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s–2000s police drama NYPD Blue, Matt Santos on the political drama The West Wing, and for appearing in Switch (1991), My Family (1995), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), and In the Heights (2021).

He also appeared as Bail Organa in the Star Wars franchise and as ADA Miguel Prado in Dexter.

He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1980 and an MFA from Cornell University in 1982.

One of Smits's early roles was playing Sonny Crockett's original partner on the first episode of Miami Vice in 1984.

In the first five minutes of the episode he falls victim to a car bomb.

Beginning in 1986, Smits played Victor Sifuentes in the first five seasons of the NBC television Steven Bochco legal drama L.A. Law, for which he was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1990.

Also in 1986, Smits made his feature film debut as drug dealer Julio Gonzalez in the comedy/action cop film Running Scared starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.

In 1989, Smits had a leading role in the romantic adventure Old Gringo as Jane Fonda's love interest.

One of Smits's most acclaimed roles was that of Detective Bobby Simone on the ABC television program NYPD Blue, in which he starred from 1994 to 1998.

Additionally, Smits played a repairman on Pee-wee's Playhouse, and he starred in the multigenerational story of a Chicano family in the film My Family (1995), alongside Edward James Olmos and Jennifer Lopez.

Smits was scheduled to host the 2001 Latin Grammy Awards broadcast on September 11, 2001.

It was canceled due to continuous news coverage and out of respect for the victims of the terrorist attacks earlier that day.

He did host a non-televised press conference to announce the winners.

Smits appeared as Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), in which the character becomes Princess Leia's adoptive father.

Additionally, Smits portrayed the character Alex Vega in the CBS TV series Cane, which aired from September 25, 2007, to December 18, 2007, and was subsequently canceled by the network due to the 2007 Screen Writer's Guild strike.

Smits joined the Sons of Anarchy cast in season 5 as Nero Padilla, a high-level pimp who refers to himself as a "companionator".

He builds a relationship with Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) and forms an alliance and mentorship with Gemma's son, the central character Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam).

He reappeared as Bail Organa in the game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) and the spinoff movie Rogue One (2016).

He later reprised the role for Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).

Smits played the role of Congressman Matt Santos of Houston, Texas, in the final two seasons of the NBC television drama The West Wing, joining fellow L.A. Law alumnus John Spencer.

His character eventually ran for and won the U.S. presidency.

In Dexter season 3, Smits played the role of Miguel Prado, an assistant district attorney who befriends the title character.

Smits was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for the role.

From 2012 to 2014, he joined the main cast of Sons of Anarchy as Nero Padilla.

Smits also portrayed Elijah Strait in the NBC drama series Bluff City Law.

Smits was born in Brooklyn, New York.

He received several Emmy nominations for his performance on the series and was reunited with his former co-star Dennis Franz at the 2016 Emmy Awards presentation.

He won the ALMA award twice.

Smits starred in The Get Down, a musical drama television series which debuted in 2016 on Netflix.

On February 25, 2019, news outlets reported that Smits was cast as Elijah Strait in NBC drama series Bluff City Law and it was picked up to series on May 6, 2019.