Malin Akerman, Jean Smart Join Cast of ABC Comedy Pilot THE SMART ONE

As first reported on TVLine.com, Malin Akerman and Jean Smart have been cast in the upcoming ABC comedy pilot THE SMART ONE from Portia de Rossi. The show will be executive produced by Donald Todd and Ellen DeGeneres.

Akerman will portray De Rossi's sister in the family comedy which  centers on "dueling sisters, de Rossi as Jude, a brilliant and successful woman who has to go to work for her less brainy but more popular sister, Candy, a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big city Mayor." Jean Smart will play the mother of the fueding siblings. 

Malin Akerman recently joined the cast of the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of ROCK OF AGES. Akerman will play Constance, 'a journalist who intends to write an expose on decadent rocker Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise).' The actress gained her first starring role as Lila in The Heartbreak Kid (2007), opposite Ben Stiller. The following year she played a supporting role in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses (2008) with Katherine Heigl. In 2009, Akerman got her big break when she was cast as Silk Spectre II in the superhero film Watchmen, for which she received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Other notable films include The Proposal, Couples Retreat, and The Bang Bang Club.