Born:
July 9, 1955
Jimmy Smits grew up in Brooklyn, New
York, though he spent a lot of time with family members in Puerto
Rico when he was a teenager. Smits is of Puerto Rican descent on his
mother's side. His father came from Dutch Guiana, now Surinam. As
a teenager,Smits became very interested in theater. At Brooklyn's
Thomas Jefferson High, he quit the football team in order to spend
more time acting in school plays and musicals. Jimmy's parents encouraged
him to attend college.
At Brooklyn college he majored in theater
and earned his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1980 and
an Masters in Fine Arts from Cornell University in 1982. Jimmy worked
as a union labor organizer during his college years as a way to help
the community.
Smits helped found the National Hispanic
Foundation for the Arts to advance the presence of Latinos in the
media, telecommunications and entertainment industries.
Learn
more about Jimmy at the following websites: