Smart Moves

Actress Jean Smart is unstoppable, with a Broadway show and the upcoming fifth series of the critically acclaimed Hacks

- by H. ALAN SCOTT

WHEN JEAN SMART FIRST READ the play Call Me Izzy, she had one response. "I just had to do it."

Smart is taking a break from winning multiple Emmys for her portrayal of Deborah Vance on Hacks to tackle a 12-week, one-person Broadway show about Isabelle Scutley, a Southern woman trapped in an abusive marriage who, despite it all, finds her voice through writing and humor. Naturally, we're left wondering how she keeps up the stamina. "Check with me in a few weeks," she jokes in an exclusive interview with Newsweek. "I've relaxed into it, I feel very confident about the words, all 75 pages. So that's a load off my mind. The hardest part, I suppose, even just physically and vocally, is that I'm voicing all the other characters."

"Certain roles I just can't play now, just because of my age, which is sad, but I don't feel like I'm a different actor than I was 20 years ago."

While she still has "awful, really awful" stage fright, she finds that channeling it improves the show. “Certain roles I just can’t play now, just because of my age, which is sad, but I don’t feel like I’m a different actor than I was 20 years ago.”

COMING SOON Smart is currently starring on Broadway, but will reunite onscreen with Hannah Einbinder in the upcoming fifth season of Hacks.

“Sometimes, when you're feeling more vulnerable, you actually give a better performance, because you're just in tune with all your feelings,” she said. “Everything’s kind of raw near the surface. I've noticed times when I've done the show when I haven’t been feeling particularly well physically, I gave what I thought was a better performance.”

CENTER STAGE The actor delivers a powerful solo turn in Call Me Izzy, portraying a woman slowly unraveling under the glare of the spotlight.