Actress Jean Smart has an impressive resume. She started her career in regional theatre in Seattle and played Lady Macbeth in 1980. She’s been on Broadway, but hit it rich on TV as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women (1986-1991). She went on to play Lana Gardener, Frasier Crane’s girlfriend on Frasier (she won two Emmys for that role) and she played the First Lady of the United States in 24. Smart is now adding the TV miniseries Fargo to her resume. Based on the Coen Brothers film, Fargo will feature Smart as the matriarch of a crime family. Kirsten Dunst and Ted Danson co-star.
But Smart owes her personal happiness to Designing Women. It was on that set where she met her husband, actor Richard Gilliland. He played J.D., Annie Potts’ boyfriend. They’ve been married since 1987. Decades later, they both appeared on 24 (Gilliland played Captain Stan Cotter). Gilliland and Smart have two children.