Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist-in-residence at the Center for American Progress. Smith is widely known for her roles as National Security Advisor Dr. Nancy McNally in The West Wing , and as hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus in the Showtime series Nurse Jackie . She is a recipient of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize , one of the richest prizes in the American arts, with a remuneration of $300,000, and was named the Jefferson Lecturer for 2015.
On character building in “Wearing the Words: An Interview with Anna Deavere Smith” https://tricycle.org/magazine/wearing-words-interview-anna-deavere-smith/ in the Buddhist Review (Fall 1994)
