Brooke Smith is an American actress. She is best known for her role on the TV show Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

as Dr. Erica Hahn

Erica Hahn

Erica Hahn is a fictional character from the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy, portrayed by actress Brooke Smith. Hahn was a recurring character through the show's second and third seasons, and joined the main cast in the fourth season...

 and for her role as Catherine Martin in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs.

Early life

Brooke Smith was born in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, the daughter of publisher Gene Smith and publicist Lois Smith, who has worked with Robert Redford and other actors and directors. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts

American Academy of Dramatic Arts

The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...

, but by her own admission, was not asked back for the second year of study. She shared an apartment with Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley

Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...

 before he recorded Grace.

Career

Smith has appeared in numerous films, including The Moderns

The Moderns

The Moderns is a 1988 film by Alan Rudolph, which takes place in 1926 Paris during the period of the Lost Generation and at the height of modernist literature...

(1988), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Night We Never Met (1993), Mr. Wonderful

Mr. Wonderful (film)

Mr. Wonderful is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed by Academy Award winning director Anthony Minghella.The film stars Matt Dillon, Annabella Sciorra, and features one of the few appearances of Vincent D'Onofrio as a romantic character.-Plot:...

(1993), Vanya on 42nd Street

Vanya on 42nd Street

Vanya on 42nd Street is a 1994 film by Louis Malle and Andre Gregory. The film is an intimate, interpretive performance of the play Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov based on the English translation by David Mamet...

(1994), Last Summer in the Hamptons

Last Summer in the Hamptons

Last Summer in the Hamptons is a 1995 movie directed by Henry Jaglom and released by Rainbow Releasing and Live Entertainment and features a large eclectic ensemble cast....

(1995), Trees Lounge

Trees Lounge

Trees Lounge is the 1996 feature film debut written and directed by Steve Buscemi. It was produced by Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley and features a large ensemble cast of actors, including Buscemi, Anthony LaPaglia, Chloë Sevigny and Samuel L. Jackson...

(1996), Kansas City

Kansas City (1996 film)

Kansas City is a 1996 film, directed by Robert Altman, and featuring numerous jazz tracks. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, and Steve Buscemi starred. The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...

(1996), The Broken Giant

The Broken Giant

The Broken Giant is a 1998 American independent film written and directed by Estep Nagy and starring John Glover, Brooke Smith, and Will Arnett. The soundtrack was released as Songs Put Together For by Will Oldham in 1996...

(1998), Remembering Sex (1998), Random Hearts

Random Hearts

Random Hearts is a 1984 novel by American author Warren Adler. In 1999, the novel was made into a motion picture directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.-Plot summary :...

(1999), Eventual Wife (2000), Series 7: The Contenders

Series 7: The Contenders

Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill...

(2001), For Earth Below (2002), Bad Company

Bad Company (2002 film)

Bad Company is a 2002 action-comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock.-Plot:...

(2002), Melinda and Melinda

Melinda and Melinda

Melinda and Melinda is a 2004 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Manhattan and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic...

(2004), Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels is a 2004 American drama film. It was directed by Katja von Garnier and starred Hilary Swank, Frances O'Connor, Julia Ormond, and Anjelica Huston. It focuses on the American women's suffrage movement during the 1910s. The film received acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival...

(2004), Shooting Vegetarians (2005), In Her Shoes (2005), and The Namesake

The Namesake

The Namesake is the second book by author Jhumpa Lahiri. It was originally a novella published in The New Yorker and was later expanded to a full length novel. It explores many of the same emotional and cultural themes as her Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies...

(2006).

Smith is creating a series with David Milch

David Milch

David S. Milch is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including NYPD Blue and Deadwood.-Biography:...

.

Television

Smith appeared as a guest star on the sixth season of Crossing Jordan

Crossing Jordan

Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...

as Dr. Kate Switzer, as one of Claire Fisher's art teachers on Six Feet Under and on Weeds

Weeds (TV series)

Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...

as the ex-wife of Peter Scottson, the late husband of main character Nancy Botwin.

Brooke originated the role of Andrea in the pilot of the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 drama Dirty Sexy Money

Dirty Sexy Money

Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...

, but was replaced by Sheryl Lee

Sheryl Lee

Sheryl Lee is an American actress. She came to international attention for her performances as Laura Palmer and Maddy Ferguson on the 1990 cult TV series Twin Peaks and in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me...

 after she became a series regular on Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

.

She has also had roles in Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Law and Order

Law & Order

Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

, Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...

and The Hunger.

Grey's Anatomy

Smith returned to her role as Dr. Erica Hahn in Season 4 of Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

, in episode 5 "Haunt You Every Day", in which it was announced that Dr. Hahn would become the hospital's head of cardiothoracics

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of diseases affecting organs inside the thorax —generally treatment of conditions of the heart and lungs .-Cardiac / Thoracic:...

, sealing Smith as the series' newest season regular, but was fired seven episodes into season 5.

On November 3, 2008, Smith told Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

that her character was being written out of Grey's Anatomy. Smith stated that she was "really, really shocked", and suggested that network executives' discomfort with her character's lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 relationship might be the reason for her ousting.

Politics

Smith spoke at an Open the Debates rally in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

 at the Magness Arena

Magness Arena

Magness Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose collegiate sports arena in Denver, Colorado. It was built from 1997 to 1999 as part of the Daniel L. Ritchie Center for Sports & Wellness, a $84 million, sports complex at the University of Denver. It is home to the University of Denver Pioneers ice...

 in opposition to the Commission on Presidential Debates

Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates began in 1987 by the Democratic and Republican parties to establish the way that presidential election debates are run between candidates for President of the United States...

 exclusion of third party

Third party (United States)

The term third party is used in the United States for any and all political parties in the United States other than one of the two major parties . The term can also refer to independent politicians not affiliated with any party at all and to write-in candidates.The United States has had a...

 candidates from the nationally televised Presidential debates and in support of Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

 on August 27, 2008.

Personal life

She was a participant in the New York City hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 scene of the late 1980s, as evidenced by her photo gallery submission to the site "Street Boners and TV Carnage."

Smith married Russian cinematographer Steve Lubensky on January 6, 1999. They have a daughter together, Fanny Grace Lubensky, born March 12, 2003 in New York City. In May 2008, she and her husband adopted a baby girl from Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, named Lucy Dinknesh Lubensky. They currently live in Upper West Side

Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...

 of New York City and Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles, California

Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles, California

Beachwood Canyon is a community in the Hollywood Hills, in the northern portion of Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. The upper portion of the canyon is the Hollywoodland that was originally advertised in the 1920s by the Hollywood Sign...

.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Moderns The Moderns The Moderns is a 1988 film by Alan Rudolph, which takes place in 1926 Paris during the period of the Lost Generation and at the height of modernist literature...	Abigail
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	Catherine Martin
1993	The Night We Never Met	Catha
1993	Mr. Wonderful Mr. Wonderful (film) Mr. Wonderful is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed by Academy Award winning director Anthony Minghella.The film stars Matt Dillon, Annabella Sciorra, and features one of the few appearances of Vincent D'Onofrio as a romantic character.-Plot:...	Jan
1994	Vanya on 42nd Street Vanya on 42nd Street Vanya on 42nd Street is a 1994 film by Louis Malle and Andre Gregory. The film is an intimate, interpretive performance of the play Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov based on the English translation by David Mamet...	Sonya	Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress The Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film to the actress or actresses whose winning performance is voted by participating members... Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
1995	Last Summer in the Hamptons Last Summer in the Hamptons Last Summer in the Hamptons is a 1995 movie directed by Henry Jaglom and released by Rainbow Releasing and Live Entertainment and features a large eclectic ensemble cast....	Lois
1996	Trees Lounge Trees Lounge Trees Lounge is the 1996 feature film debut written and directed by Steve Buscemi. It was produced by Brad Wyman and Chris Hanley and features a large ensemble cast of actors, including Buscemi, Anthony LaPaglia, Chloë Sevigny and Samuel L. Jackson...	Tina
1996	Kansas City Kansas City (1996 film) Kansas City is a 1996 film, directed by Robert Altman, and featuring numerous jazz tracks. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, and Steve Buscemi starred. The film was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...	Babe Flynn
1998	The Broken Giant The Broken Giant The Broken Giant is a 1998 American independent film written and directed by Estep Nagy and starring John Glover, Brooke Smith, and Will Arnett. The soundtrack was released as Songs Put Together For by Will Oldham in 1996...	Rosemary Smith
1998	Remembering Sex	Jennifer Sharp
1999	Random Hearts Random Hearts (film) Random Hearts is a 1999 film adaption of the novel of the same name. It is directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.-Plot:...	Sarah
2000	Eventual Wife	Susan
2001	Series 7: The Contenders Series 7: The Contenders Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 film directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The Contenders, where six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are each given a gun and forced to hunt and kill...	Dawn Lagarto
2002	For Earth Below	Dede
2002	Bad Company Bad Company (2002 film) Bad Company is a 2002 action-comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock.-Plot:...	Officer Swanson
2004	Melinda and Melinda Melinda and Melinda Melinda and Melinda is a 2004 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Manhattan and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic...	Cassie
2005	Shooting Vegetarians	The Chicken Man
2005	In Her Shoes	Amy
2006	The Namesake The Namesake (film) The Namesake is a 2006 film which was released in the United States on March 9, 2007, following screenings at film festivals in Toronto and New York City. It was directed by Mira Nair and is based upon the novel of the same name by Jhumpa Lahiri, who appeared in the movie. Sooni Taraporevala...	Sally
2010	A Little Help A Little Help A Little Help is a 2010 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Michael J. Weithorn. It follows the experiences of a dental hygienist following her unfaithful husband's sudden death...	Kathy Helms
2010	Fair Game Fair Game (2010 film) Fair Game is a 2010 biographical film drama directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It is based on Valerie Plame's memoir, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House which details the scandalous events that took place in mid 2003, implicating senior White...	Diana
2010	The Aspern Papers The Aspern Papers The Aspern Papers is a novella written by Henry James, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1888, with its first book publication later in the same year. One of James' best-known and most acclaimed longer tales, The Aspern Papers is based on an anecdote that James heard about a Shelley...	Tita Bordereau

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Equalizer The Equalizer The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...	Risa	1 episode
1997	The Larry Sanders Show The Larry Sanders Show The Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...	Tonya	1 episode
1999	Homicide: Life on the Street Homicide: Life on the Street Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...	Josephine Pitt	1 episode
1998–1999	The Hunger	Lee Cooper	2 episodes
2001	Big Apple Big Apple (TV series) Big Apple is an American television drama series that was originally broadcast in the United States on CBS in 2001. The story centers on two New York City Police Department detectives Mooney and Trout working with the FBI to solve a murder with ties to organized crime...	Lois, Mooney's Sister	3 episodes
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...	Tessa Rankin	1 episode
2004	Six Feet Under	Carolyn Pope	3 episodes
2006	Heist Heist (TV series) Heist is an American television series that premiered March 22, 2006, on NBC, but was almost immediately canceled due to low ratings. The series was from acclaimed director Doug Liman and revolved around professional thief Mickey O' Neil , who created a team of experts to try to pull off the...	Sarah	3 episodes
1996–2007	Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...	Margot Bell / Ms. Kurland	3 episodes
2007	Crossing Jordan Crossing Jordan Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...	Dr. Kate Switzer	13 episodes
	Dirty Sexy Money Dirty Sexy Money Dirty Sexy Money is an American prime time drama series created by Craig Wright, which ran on the ABC from September 26, 2007 to August 8, 2009. The series was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Hat Harry Productions, Berlanti Television and Gross Entertainment...	Andrea Smithson	1 episode
	Weeds Weeds (TV series) Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...	Valerie Scottson	4 episodes
2006–2008	Grey's Anatomy Grey's Anatomy Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...	Erica Hahn Erica Hahn Erica Hahn is a fictional character from the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy, portrayed by actress Brooke Smith. Hahn was a recurring character through the show's second and third seasons, and joined the main cast in the fourth season...	23 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2010	Criminal Minds Criminal Minds Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...	Barbara Lynch	1 episode

External links