Six years before Jean Smart was onHacksas Deborah Vance, she was playing a gangster in a lauded crime series with a 93% onRotten Tomatoes.Hacksis one ofthe best HBO original TV showsof recent years. Premiering in 2019,Hacksfollows Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), a young, lost comedy writer who finds herself working for a legendary stand-up comedian, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). Despite their differences in attitude and style, the two comedians grow closer and slowly bond through their work.
A very popular series,Hackshas a 98% onRotten Tomatoesand hasbeen renewed for season 5, and the show may keep going as long as Smart wants to do it. There’s talent on every level of the show, butit’s Jean Smart who makes it into something special. Smart is a six-time Emmy winner and a two-time Golden Globe winner, who has been acting since the late 1970s. She’s starred inWatchmen,Mare of Easttown,Babylon, and much more. A particularly notable role of hers came just a few years beforeHacks, in a celebrated anthology series.
Jean Smart Played Crime Family Matriarch Floyd Gerhardt In Fargo Season 2
Floyd Takes The Reins Of Her Family After Her Husband Has A Stroke
Jean Smart appears inFargoseason 2 as Floyd Gerhardt, the matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family. The most powerful crime syndicate in Fargo, North Dakota, the Gerhardts are at a precarious point when we meet them inFargoseason 2. The head of the family, Otto, is left unable to perform his duties as boss after he suffers a stroke, and infighting between his two sons, Dodd (Jeffrey Donovan) and Bear (Angus Sampson), means that Floyd is in the best position to look over the family’s business, and she quickly shows an aptitude for the job.
Floyd looks to be a bit over her head at first, buther level-headedness and quick thinking prove that she’s probably a better leader of the Gerhardt family than any of her trouble-making sons. A fight with the Kansas City crime family and the accidental death of Floyd’s son leads to more bloodshed and misunderstandings in theFargostyle. While Floyd tries to keep her head above water, forces outside her control threaten to drown her and the Gerhardts.
What Jean Smart Has Said About Working On Fargo
Smart Was Thrilled To Be Offered The Chance To Audition
Jean Smart said about her role onFargo, “‘Fargo’ was one of those projects that I just was so thrilled [about]. I actually had to audition for that. I was thrilled when [creator] Noah [Hawley] offered me that after the audition” (viaVariety). It’s a very distinct character, not just in Smart’s filmography but on television. Smart recognized this uniqueness, saying, “I knew that from the outside she appeared to be so many things that weren’t really what she truly was.” Floyd is a character who is trying her best to be a leader and be tough.
Smart plays her with a conscience and the feeling that she only performs her duties reluctantly.
For the most part, she accomplishes it, but you never get the sense that this is who Floyd always wanted to be. Smart plays her with a conscience and the feeling that she only performs her duties reluctantly. It’s almost a cruel joke that she’s talented at it.Smart earned a Supporting Actress Emmy nomination for her work, and the season has a 100% onRotten Tomatoes,higher than the series has overall. The strength of this season can in part be attributed to Smart’s performance.
How Floyd Gerhardt Compares To Smart’s Deborah Vance
Floyd Is A Much Less Self-Reflective Character
Floyd Gerhardt inFargoand Deborah Vance inHacksare quite different characters. Floyd is patient, pragmatic, believes that everyone should be treated equally, and has a strong work ethic. At the same time,she also has a ruthless streak and is fine with casual violence as long as it serves her purposes. She doesn’t have much of a sense of humor in that regard. Floyd is entirely unable to recognize the conflicting parts of her personality, and she can’t always see where her actions are leading her.
Deborah, on the other hand, is a little too self-aware. She’s incredibly funny, knows herself very well, but at the same time, finds herself in a rut both professionally and personally. There’s a self-reflection in Deborah that isn’t present in Floyd, and that’s why Deborah grows as a character while Floyd deteriorates until there’s not much left. Both are outstanding performances inHacksandFargoby Jean Smart and examples of why, decades after the start of her career, she’s still being lauded as a generational talent.
Hacks
Cast
Hacks, released in 2021, is a dark comedy series that explores the evolving relationship between Deborah Vance, a legendary comedian in Las Vegas, and an ambitious, outcast young writer. The show delves into the complexities of mentorship and creativity in the entertainment industry.
