Stephen A. Smith is appearing on the May 8 episode of Law & Order as a sports agent who dies and leaves behind a long list of “suspects who wanted him gone,” per the official logline
The sports analyst tells PEOPLE that taking on a primetime TV acting gig is “an incredible honor”
Smith also appears as a recurring character on the popular soap opera General Hospital and hosts a sports commentary show called First Take on ESPN
Stephen A. Smith is making his primetime acting debut!
The 57-year-old sportscaster host recently spoke with PEOPLE about landing a guest role on Law & Order nine years after first trying out acting. Admitting that he is “a huge fan” of the iconic legal drama, Smith says it was “an incredible honor” to be a part of this season.
“From seasons 3 through 21 — Sam Waterston was my favorite — I never missed a single episode,” he shares. “I really enjoy the show. I’ve been watching it for years, and when I was approached by a writer, who I ran across here in Los Angeles, about making an appearance on the show, it’s something that I jumped at.”
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
Dushaun Thompson as Jackson Dean, Stephen A. Smith as Ted Hunter in Law & Order
“I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would get a call from Law & Order to appear,” he adds, calling it “something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
“So I mean, that’s primetime, that’s bigtime. It means the world to me to have this experience. And to be quite honest with you, I thought I stepped it up, and I thought that that’s the best I’ve been yet. So I’m very, very happy about that, and I can’t wait until everybody sees it.”
Related: Where to Stream Every Season of the Law & Order Franchise
Smith merged his two passions for the May 8 episode, titled “Tough Love,” in which he plays “a tough-love sports agent” who “is found stabbed to death, leaving the squad with a trail of suspects who wanted him gone,” per the official logline.
“That was fun for me,” the ESPN talking head says. “I knew that I would know how to do that because I’ve been dealing with agents my entire career. So I know how they talk, I know how they act, I know how they feel. I know the nuances that come with their profession to some degree because I’ve experienced it. And so I just tried to bring that to the scene and tried to make it as real and as authentic as it possibly can be. And they say I was successful, so we’re going to go with that.”
“I did want to be a lawyer on the show,” Smith then reveals of early discussions about his potential character. “But that couldn’t happen because it would require a commitment spanning a multitude of days, and I don’t have that time available to me at this particular juncture because of the NBA season and the playoffs approaching and all of that other stuff. So I couldn’t do that. But outside of that, this was the next best thing.”
Christine Bartolucci/Disney
Stephen A. Smith in General Hospital
Despite his previous acting gigs, Smith notes that his priority will always be his sports career.
“I’m always going to love sports and doing what I do,” the First Take host explains. “I mean, it’s made me who I am. Being synonymous with sports and giving sports commentary and being a sports journalist and broadcaster spanning the last three decades is obviously going to come first. I’ve never considered myself an actor or anything like that.”
Smith got into acting in 2016 when he appeared on General Hospital as the character Brick. It has since become a recurring role, and Smith tells PEOPLE that it was an executive producer for the popular soap opera who first recognized his “talents” in the field.
“He really, really believes that I have a set of natural skills that can really, really excel in this business, so it’s something I’ve left the door open to because you never know what the future holds,” he says, later sharing what he attributes to his success on the daytime series, “Doing General Hospital over the last several years has been incredible because I’ve got a lot of friends on that show, and they’re very, very helpful to me and helped me get better at this particular craft.”
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Law & Order airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
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