William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr. (born May 16, 1947), known professionally as Bill Smitrovich ( ), is an American actor.

Personal life

Smitrovich was born on May 16, 1947, in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, the son of Anna (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a tool and die maker. He is of Polish descent. Bill is a graduate of the

University of Bridgeport The University of Bridgeport (UB or UBPT) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin Unive ...

(1972) and holds an MFA from Smith College (1976). He is married to Shaw Purnell from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They have a son, Alexander John, and a daughter Maya Christina, four years younger.

Career

Smitrovich has starred in a number of television series. His first prominent TV series role was in the 1980s series '' Crime Story'' as Det. Sgt. Danny Krychek. He went on to star in the hit drama series '' Life Goes On'' (1989–93). Smitrovich was the lead guest star in the pilot film of the 1980s crime drama hit series ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

''. He also appeared in the final episode of ''

NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensemble ca ...

''. He has also been seen in ''The Henry Lee Project'' with Danny Glover. In 1996, Smitrovich was cast as

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

police lieutenant

Bob Bletcher ''Millennium'' is a crime- thriller television series which was broadcast from 1996 to 1999. Created by Chris Carter, the series aired on Fox for three seasons with a total of sixty-seven episodes. It starred Lance Henriksen, Megan Gallagher, K ...

in ''

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

''. He is known for his roles on the A&E series ''

A Nero Wolfe Mystery ''Nero Wolfe'' is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on A&E. Set in New York City sometime in the 1940s–1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Ne ...

'' (based on the

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery (fiction), mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Principality of Montenegro, Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a ...

detective stories by

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886–October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

) as Inspector Cramer, and on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

series ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy i ...

'' as Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Walsh and then went on to ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002, to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'', where he played the recurring character of Chief Alex Olcyk. In 2010, he starred in the NBC series ''

The Event ''The Event'' (stylized as THE EVƎNT) is an American television series containing elements of science fiction, Action fiction, action/adventure and political allegory. It was created by Nick Wauters and aired on NBC from September 20, 2010, to ...

'' as Vice President Raymond Jarvis. Smitrovich has also played several characters in military roles. These include ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

'' (1996), ''

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

'' (1997), '' Thirteen Days'' (2000), ''

Fail Safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that, in the event of a failure of the design feature, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inheren ...

'' (2000), and ''

Eagle Eye ''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso from a screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Ch ...

'' (2008). He has made many guest appearances on various television shows. His best-known appearances include the two-part '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' third-season episode "

Past Tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...

," '' 24'', ''

Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that originally aired on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, with a total of six seasons consisting of 118 episodes. The series was created by Nico ...

'', ''

Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced by Ma ...

'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...

'', ''

Castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

'', and the ''Dynasty'' reboot. Smitrovich has also starred in several television films, playing

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

in the 2003 biographical miniseries ''

The Reagans ''The Reagans'' is a 2003 American biographical drama television film about U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his family. It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman and written by Jane Marchwood, Tom Rickman, and Elizabeth Egloff, based on the 1 ...

'', as well as roles in ''

Futuresport ''Futuresport'' is a 1998 American television film, made-for-television sports film directed by Ernest Dickerson, starring Dean Cain, Vanessa L. Williams, Vanessa Williams, and Wesley Snipes. It originally aired on American Broadcasting Company ...

'' (1998) and in ''The '60s'' miniseries (1999). On film, Smitrovich's roles include the

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

adaptation ''

Silver Bullet Silver Bullet(s) or The Silver Bullet may refer to: * Silver bullet, in folklore, a weapon against supernatural creatures; metaphorically, a simple, effective solution to a problem Film and television * The Silver Bullet (1935 film), ''The Silve ...

'' (1985), ''Renegades'' (1989), ''

The Trigger Effect ''The Trigger Effect'' is a 1996 American thriller film written and directed by David Koepp (in his feature directorial debut) and starring Kyle MacLachlan, Elisabeth Shue and Dermot Mulroney. The film follows the downward spiral of society dur ...

'' (1996), ''

Gridiron Gang ''Gridiron Gang'' is a 2006 American biographical sports drama film directed by Phil Joanou, and starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Xzibit, Kevin Dunn, Leon Rippy and L. Scott Caldwell. It is loosely based on the true story of the Kilpatri ...

'' (2006), and the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

film ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' (2008). Bill played the role of Mr. Zimburger in the

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

film '' The Rum Diary''. He also appeared as the head of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

, Hanley, in

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

's film ''

The November Man ''The November Man'' is a 2014 spy action thriller film based on the novel ''There Are No Spies'' by Bill Granger, which is the seventh installment in ''The November Man'' novel series, published in 1987. A British-American production, it stars ...

''.

Selected filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

Bill Smitrovich
at

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smitrovich, Bill 1947 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors Male actors from Bridgeport, Connecticut University of Bridgeport alumni American people of Polish descent 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Smith College alumni