Nora Buchanan on the ABC Television Network's "One Life To Live"

Hillary B. Smith originated the role of Nora Buchanan in September 1992, a headstrong attorney whose quick wit has kept her smiling through some difficult times. Ms. Smith received the Daytime Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in 1994 for her portrayal of the incredibly charming, irrepressible Nora, and was nominated again for the award in 2000.

The youngest of four girls, Ms. Smith was raised in Palm Beach, Florida. At 14 she returned to Massachusetts, where she was born, to attend boarding school. While enrolled at Dana Hall School, she worked with a geneticist at the New England Medical Center. She attended Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where she headed the drama club, and transferred to Sarah Lawrence College because " it had a Masters program in genetics as well as theater." It wasn't long before she turned her attention from gene screening to screen-testing.

While still a senior in college, Smith performed off-Broadway in "Song Night in the City." She has also appeared in the off-Broadway production of "World of Black and White" and the Broadway musical "A Real American Hero." She also performed in Wendy Wasserstein's Broadway play, "The Heidi Chronicles," and off-Broadway in "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," by Terrence McNally.

Motion pictures in which she has appeared are "Hair," "Purple Hearts," "Love Potion #9," "It Had to Be You" and "Life Breath" with Luke Perry. Ms. Smith will appear in the yet to be released feature film, "Chambermaid," starring Jennifer Lopez.

Ms. Smith's primetime television experience includes starring opposite Gene Wilder in "Something Wilder," and a co-starring role on the series "No Soap Radio," with Steve Guttenberg. Daytime audiences are familiar with Ms. Smith on "The Doctors," as nurse Kit McCormick, and on "As the World Turns," where she played policewoman Margo Hughes for six-and-a-half years. She left "As the World Turns" in 1989, after the birth of her second child, Phips, who originated the role of Adam Hughes, Margo's son.

Ms. Smith is an inveterate lover of word and card games and an avid tennis and golf player. She and her husband, Phillip "Nip" Smith -- whom she met at age 14 -- have two children, Courtney and Phips.