Stephen A. Smith is a lot of things – ESPN analyst, podcaster, political commentator, potential POTUS candidate… but has he missed his true calling all along as a thespian?
Smith has plenty of acting experience as he has guest starred on General Hospital regularly over the years even while he rose to superstardom on ESPN. But now he has expanded his small screen CV with an appearance on Law & Order.
The episode featuring Stephen A. debuted Thursday night. In it, he guest starred as a high profile sports agent named Ted Hunter. Unfortunately, it’s not a long appearance for Smith because his character is a murder victim early in the episode as he berates one of his clients for having a large entourage and being a scrub in the vein of Kwame Brown. Unfortunately, the only thing missing is a callback to that famous rant.
And although it was an incredibly brief cameo because Smith’s character was a murder victim in the first few minutes of the episode, he definitely stole the show in his limited screentime.
Stephen A. Smith is continuing his acting side quests 😂
He was featured in the latest episode of ‘LAW & ORDER’.
[via @nbc] pic.twitter.com/VJ1PGcqBFC
— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) May 9, 2025
Even critics of Stephen A. Smith have to admit that was really good! Maybe an egotistical, fiery sports agent who makes a lot of enemies hits a little close to home and isn’t exactly an out of body experience for Smith to portray. But still, he’s definitely got the chops to do more acting… which isn’t a surprise given that a lot of his television career on First Take has been performative in nature.
Smith has talked about his fondness for acting and exploring new horizons there. And after seeing his Law & Order guest spot we can safely say that his future would make a lot more sense in Hollywood rather than the White House. Of course, there is the matter of that new $100 million contract with ESPN to work out if he wanted to make it more of a full time thing.
