J. Smith-Cameron is giving Emmy voters several reasons to consider her this season.
When Variety spoke with Smith-Cameron in 2024, he was appearing in a cameo on HBO’s Hux as Deborah Vance’s (Jean Smart) sister Cassie. “I feel like there’s something more to me,” Smith-Cameron said.
She was right. There was more to it than that. This season, she announced her return to the comedy series, appearing in two episodes and continuing to be the thorn in Deborah’s side.
In the episode “D’Amazing Race,” Deborah and Eva (Hannah Einbinder) hunt down Kathy to get the rights to the sitcom “Who’s Making Dinner?,” which Deborah and her ex-husband starred in and wrote. Kathy actually owns the rights to the show. But she’s going to give Deborah what she wants. But only in exchange for something Deborah knows she won’t give up. It is Deborah’s late mother’s salt and pepper shaker.
Later in the season, Cassie returns. Will this time be in Deborah’s dreams or nightmares? When Deborah takes the stage at the Madison Square Garden show, she looks down to see that she is completely naked, and the audience is filled with a laughing and mocking version of her sister.
“I’m a projection of Deborah’s brain,” Smith-Cameron says. Performing Deborah’s Nightmare was a “different kind of acting job” for Smith-Cameron. Showrunner Paul W. Downs was directing the episode and told her, “Just do it.” Standing in front of a green screen, Smith-Cameron filmed her various reactions, looking to her left and right, making a few impromptu comments, and speaking to “the other Cassie,” giving Downs everything she needed to blend the scene together. Smith-Cameron had free rein as this was another unconventional version of Cassie. “I felt like I didn’t have to worry about it being real because this is a nightmare,” she says.
How does Smith-Cameron view Cathy? “There’s a lot of conflict between Deborah and Kathy, but I don’t think Kathy is a bad person.”
She said she liked that Kathy wasn’t a trembling victim. “I think she’s rebelling against her bossy older sister.”
Smith-Cameron further demonstrated her creative talents when she starred in the CBS hit “Elsbeth.”
On the show, she plays Isadora Langford, New York’s most prestigious debutante ball director. And yes, Smith-Cameron admits that she modeled Isadora’s entire persona after Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global chief content officer and former editor-in-chief.
“You could tell from her conversations that she had feelings, and she was very unhappy about her past. That’s why her story unfolded the way it did,” Smith-Cameron says.
The idea for Winter came from Smith-Cameron. It was the end of the Christmas holidays when she received the script and the offer. “Nobody answered my emails, but I reached out to[director]Peter Sollett and showrunner Jonathan Tolins. I worked alongside them. I said, ‘Look, I’m going to order a cheap wig off the Internet and it’s either going to be ridiculous and you’re going to send it back, or it’s going to work.'”
Sollett and Tollins embraced it, as did costume designer Dan Lawson. Lawson added a statement necklace and other jewelry and even dressed Smith-Cameron in a shirtwaist blouse to mimic her silhouette. Smith-Cameron says, “This was not meant to be a criticism of Ms. Wintour at all. It was a compliment, saying that this woman was trying so hard to look chic that she would imitate it, even if it was second-rate.”
In this episode, a powerful family matriarch is stabbed with a sword, and it’s up to the NYPD and Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) to uncover who killed Sterling Barlow (John Bedford Lloyd) and his motive.
Beware of spoilers! It was Isadora who killed Starling with her sword.
It was not easy to stab someone with a sword. Smith-Cameron had to work with Kevin Rogers, the show’s stunt coordinator. Rogers gave her all the tips she needed on how to handle a sword that was as heavy as it looked. Smith-Cameron joked, “John Bedford Lloyd is 6’3″ and I’m 5’4″ and he comes in with a sword and he doesn’t take me seriously at all. He’s really funny in this episode and doesn’t see her as a threat.”
Smith-Cameron is currently working on two independent films and is set to film FX’s “Seven Sisters” next year.
The film will be made into a series, starring Elizabeth Olsen, Cristin Milioti, and Smith-Cameron. Will Arbery is on board as the show’s writer. Directed by Sean Durkin.
The drama follows a large, close-knit family that begins to fall apart when sister Adrienne (Olsen) begins communicating in a voice that no one else can hear, forcing the family to confront long-buried secrets.
“It’s the most compelling, weird, creepy genre piece, but it’s also a family drama, and I play the matriarch of this family,” Smith-Cameron says. “I’m a far-right judge in Washington state who’s running for the Supreme Court in Washington and has the support of the governor. She has a lot of political affiliations.”
She can’t reveal much about the show, but says, “In the pilot, we shot shots that were reminiscent of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Exorcist.'”
She is currently filming an independent film in Oklahoma and admits she would love to play a detective or a spy. Her husband, director Kenneth Lonergan, and his best friend, actor Matthew Broderick, agree.
“Matthew Broderick made this comment to Kenny,” Smith-Cameron says. “He said, ‘She’s funny. The wheels are always turning.'” Kenny would say, “Oh, turbine fan, I can see it all turning.’ I love playing characters like you can—” she interrupted, adding, “They have to think, they have to nickel down. I think that’s my specialty in a way, my inner dialogue, and I’m just figuring things out.”
Perhaps Smith-Cameron can do it next. There has been a surge in demand for great roles for women in their 60s, and she wants to ride that wave.
She’s seen the role of older women change, led by Smart, Kathy Bates, Allison Janney and Mariska Hargitay. “There are a lot of great actresses in my food chain that are underutilized,” she says, adding, “It’s still surprising and fun to see a woman of a certain age not playing a grandmother, not playing a mother, not playing a battle-ax boss. Because women at that age have a tremendous amount of life experience and brain power.”
