Brooke Smith (born May 22, 1967) is an American actress, photographer and author, best known for her roles as Dr. Erica Hahn on the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, as Sheriff Jane Greene on the A&E horror series Bates Motel, and as Catherine Martin in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, along with roles in several movies and guest starring and recurring appearances in many television shows including Big Sky and Them.
Smith originated the role of Andrea in the pilot of the ABC drama series Dirty Sexy Money, but was replaced by Sheryl Lee after becoming a series regular on Grey's Anatomy.[6] On November 3, 2008, Smith told Entertainment Weekly that her character was being written out of Grey's Anatomy, stating that she was "really, really shocked," and suggested that network executives' discomfort with her character's lesbian relationship might be the reason for her ousting. However, Shonda Rhimes, the show's creator, said that Smith was dismissed from the series because the writers did not find that the "magic and chemistry" that Smith's character had with Sara Ramirez's character, Callie Torres, would sustain in the long run.[7]
In 2016, Smith appeared in the recurring role of Sheriff Jane Greene in the fifth and final season of A&E's Bates Motel, a prequel series to director Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror classic Psycho.[8]
In 2019, Smith portrayed Dara, a counselor assigned to a young rape victim, in Episode 7 of Unbelievable. It was released on September 13 on Netflix.[citation needed]
In 2020, she began a recurring role on the ABC series Big Sky.
In 2022, she released a photography book based on pictures she took of her friends in the Manhattan hardcore punk scene.[9]
Smith married Russian cinematographer Steve Lubensky on January 6, 1999.[11] Their daughter, Fanny Grace Lubensky, was born on March 12, 2003.[12][13] In May 2008, the couple adopted a baby girl, Lucy Dinknesh Lubensky, from Ethiopia.[14] The family lives in New York's Upper West Side,[15] and in Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles.[12] She was once roommates with singer Jeff Buckley.[16]
