Smith began her career in 1969 in television commercials. In 1976, she was cast in Charlie\'s Angels, alongside Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett (then billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors). The show propelled all three to stardom, including an appearance on the front cover of Time magazine. She was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Film for the title role in the TV film Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981), and went on to star in numerous TV films and miniseries over the next 20 years, including Rage of Angels (1983), George Washington (1984), Kaleidoscope (1990) and Nightmare in the Daylight (1992). She had a recurring role from 2002 to 2004 in the drama series The District and appeared as Olivia Hodges in two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2012.\n', '
Jacquelyn Ellen Smith was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Margaret Ellen (née Hartsfield) and Jack Smith (born Jacob Kupferschmidt), a dentist. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent, and her mother had English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh heritage. She graduated from Mirabeau B. Lamar High School in 1964. She attended Trinity University in San Antonio.\n', '
After college, Smith moved to New York City with hopes of dancing with the ballet. Her career aspirations shifted to modeling and acting as she found work in television commercials and print ads, including one for Listerine mouthwash. She was reportedly offered the role of Victoria Winters on the ABC daytime series Dark Shadows in 1968, but turned it down. She landed a job as a "Breck girl" for Breck Shampoo in 1971, and a few years later joined the model/actress, Farrah Fawcett, as a spokesmodel for Wella Balsam shampoo.\n', '