Jean Smart’s magic is hereditary.
In a new Instagram video for IMDb to promote her show “Hacks,” Smart, 72, revealed that her ancestor was part of the Salem Witch trials.
“I found out that my eight times great grandmother on my maternal side was convicted of witchcraft in Salem in 1692,” Smart shared.
“I had no idea, nobody in the family knew this! And it was a very moving experience to find out.”
The comedy drama, which will premiere its third season May 2 on Max, follows Deborah Vance (Smart), a legendary stand up comedian, who needs to rehabilitate her image and revamp her aging act. So, she teams up with down on her luck comedy writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder).
Both Smart and Einbinder, 28, scored Golden Globe nominations for the role in 2022 and 2023, as well as Emmy nods – and Smart took home an Emmy in 2021 and 2022.
“I have to acknowledge my late husband, Richard Gilliland, who passed away six months yesterday,” Smart said during her 2021 acceptance speech.
“I would not be here without him — without him putting his career on the back burner so I could take advantage of incredible opportunities.”
Smart also shouted out her sons — Connor, 34, and Forrest, 15 — “who are very courageous in their own right, putting up with mommy commuting to Philadelphia and back.”
The Salem Witch Trials were part of the Season 2 “Hacks” episode “The Click,” where Deborah’s daughter, DJ (Kaitlin Olson, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) informs Deborah that they’re related to Betty Paris, who was part of the Salem Witch Trials.
Deborah initially muses about “incorporating” that theme for her show and career.
“We could talk about women being persecuted by a male dominant society!” she says onscreen.
But, their plans are squashed by Deborah’s advisor, Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins), who quickly looks up this information online.
“Oh, shoot!” he says in the show. “It turns out Betty Paris was actually one of the Salem Witch trial accusers. A lot of innocent women dead. Her fault!”
So, Deborah and her team quash that idea.
Smart’s eight-times great grandmother was named Dorcas Galley.
Smart’s journey to find this out was chronicled on an episode of the TLC genealogy series, “Who Do You Think You Are?”
“She was an unconventional gal,” Smart told TV Insider about her ancestor.
The episode uncovered that Dorcas Galley and her daughters ran a burglary rung, and stole from a Massachusetts minister.
She also landed in hot water for fortune-telling, which was frowned upon in Puritan times.
She was arrested for witchcraft in 1692.
“I’ve always been fascinated by that period of history,” Smart told the outlet. “I desperately wanted to be in a production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.”
In the clip, Smart said that this information was “very moving to find out.”
Turning to her co-star, Einbinder, she quipped, “But thank you for making fun of it.”
