Brent Huff
Brent Huff is an actor, writer, and director, best known for portraying the role of Quigley Smitty on The Rookie.
He joined me via Zoom to discuss his career and the new season of The Rookie.
To watch the interview with Brent Huff, click the play button below (or click here to open the video player in a new tab/window).
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To listen to the interview, click the play button below (or click here to open the audio player in a new tab/window).
You can watch Brent Huff as "[Quigley] Smitty" in The Rookie on ABC, currently in its 8th season.
Starting Monday, January 26, 2026, new episodes of The Rookie will air on Mondays at 9pm Central, after American Idol.
Brent Huff is a supporter of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation (IRSF).
If you'd like to donate, you can do so here, via their website.
Please note that interviewees select their own charity. Any charities mentioned or linked are neither vetted, nor endorsed, by the author or this site.
Mike Reflects
I had intended to talk to Brent more about the non-Rookie work, as an actor, writer, and director.
Like he said in the interview, he's had roles on a lot of great shows, like NCIS and The West Wing.
But The Rookie is such a great show and Smitty such a great character that it turned out there was way more to discuss than I had anticipated.
If you can't tell, The Rookie is among my favorite shows, and one of the few that I watch consistently week-to-week.
I've also binged the entire series on Hulu at least 3 times now, and I've recently been introducing friends to it, as well.
And, I'll be honest: despite having seen every episode (most multiple times), I was a bit thrown when he discussed the various things he learned about the character from the episodes he wasn't in.
I knew, obviously, that there were episodes he wasn't in (the most recent episode, episode 3 from January 20, noticeably lacking Smitty's particular brand of levity). But because of how Brent plays Smitty, it's so easy to visualize him showing off or demonstrating certain traits that so much of the character's lore is simply said, rather than shown.
He brings the character to life in such a way that the character can permeate scenes he's not even in, simply by virtue of being mentioned.
Bringing that extra special something to a character is something that takes real talent and skill, and it was great to get to talk to Brent about his process and how he does it.