Jimmy Smits was born July 9th, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York. In high school he played football but gave it up to try his hand at acting. Smits traced his Hispanic roots to Puerto Rico on his mother’s side and to Surinam, South America, on his father’s. His family moved several times during his childhood, and he spent his early adolescence in Puerto Rico, where he learned to speak Spanish.

Even though he enjoyed theater he thought acting wasn’t a realistic career choice for him so after graduation he attended Brooklyn College and majored in education. He then worked as a community organizer in the New York area for several years. Eventually, he caught the bug again, and went back to school, getting his masters in theater at Cornell University in 1982. He traveled around the U.S. doing Repertory Theater until his first real break came. It was on the series “Miami Vice,” as Don Johnson’s initial partner who got killed off in the pilot episode. A few years later Smits was cast as noble public-defender-turned -corporate-litigator Victor Sifuentes on Steven Bochco’s hit series “L.A. Law.” In 1990 Smits won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for that same award every year he was on the series.

Smits left “L.A. Law” to pursue a movie career in 1991. His movie career wasn’t as successful as he had hoped but he did manage to pump out quite a few films. Some of these include “Running Scared,” “The Believers,” “Old Gringo,” “The Fires Within,” and “Switch.” He also kept his foot in the TV door by doing a few made-for-television movies and miniseries.

It was when David Caruso quit “NYPD Blue” over a salary dispute that Smits’ luck was about to change. Smits, who had been producer Steven Bochco’s first choice for the series lead but turned it down, was approached again. This time, however, Smits agreed to do the show and signed a four-year contract. The match worked wonderfully, especially because Smits was every bit as easy to work with as Caruso had been difficult. With Smits on the team, ratings soared and so did Jimmy’s career.

As the end of the fifth season was winding down, Smit’s felt that his time on the show had come to an end and told Steven Bochco that he would not be returning for another season. He graciously agreed to appear in the first five episodes to let the writers give Bobby a fitting exit. He left the show with the goodwill of all the shows staff and actors.

Smits splits his time between New York and Los Angeles. He has two children, a boy and a girl, from ex-wife Barbara. He currently lives with Wanda DeJesus, an actress who appeared on “NYPD Blue” as an old friend of Bobby’s.