For Jean Smart, starring in the acclaimed series Hacks has been about more than just winning awards — though she has bagged four Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Deborah Vance. It has also been about redefining her position in Hollywood.
“I can’t really explain it, but I’m eternally grateful for the roles I’ve had in the last decade, really,” Smart told the Boston Herald.
She credits the shift in her career to roles that challenged traditional Hollywood norms. “Things started to change for me when I did 24 and played the First Lady. But I was never an ingenue, thank God. Because I’d be pretty miserable right now,” she said.
Reflecting on her early career, Smart noted that most stories were centered on men, often leaving women in minor or supporting roles. “Even in the high school play, I always played mom. I don’t know if it was my height or my deep voice,” she shared.
Over time, the industry began recognizing that women — including older women — have stories worth telling. “Because men were the ones that were out in the world doing things. Women were not out in the world doing things, which is why everything was written about men. Pretty soon people realized that some women had actually always been out there doing things. And they started writing about women,” Smart explained.
She emphasized that today’s roles for women are bolder, more complex, and more three-dimensional. “Now they’re realizing that women can be just as three-dimensional and older women can have the same kind of lives and desires and things that women who are 30 do.”
Fans of the series can catch the final season of Hacks on HBO Max, set to premiere on April 9.
