Last updated: October 2026
Written by Amelia Davis for Digital Geek Spot.
Connor Douglas Gilliland is the elder son of Emmy-winning actress Jean Smart and late actor Richard Gilliland, born on October 25, 1989, in the United States. He turns 37 on October 25, 2026, and he is known for one choice more than any role: a private life away from cameras, red carpets, and social media. Search interest in Connor Douglas Gilliland rises each time Jean Smart wins an award or headlines a new season of Hacks, and most ranking pages answer that interest with copied biographies, conflicting numbers, and guesses dressed as facts.
This profile separates verified facts from fan-site claims. It covers Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents, his childhood on television sets, his younger sister Bonnie, his father’s death in 2021, and the parts of his life that no public record confirms, including his career, his height, and his net worth.
Key Takeaways
- Connor Douglas Gilliland is the son of Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland, born on October 25, 1989.
- Connor Douglas Gilliland turns 37 on October 25, 2026, one day after this article’s publication date.
- Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents met on the set of Designing Women in 1986 and married in June 1987.
- Connor Douglas Gilliland has a younger sister, Bonnie Kathleen, adopted from China in May 2009.
- Connor Douglas Gilliland has no verified public career, no verified social media account, and no reliable public net worth figure.
- Connor Douglas Gilliland’s father, Richard Gilliland, died on March 18, 2021, at the age of 71.
Table of Contents
- Who is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
- How old is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
- Who are Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents?
- How did Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland meet?
- What was Connor Douglas Gilliland’s childhood like?
- Does Connor Douglas Gilliland have siblings?
- What happened to Connor Douglas Gilliland’s father?
- What does Connor Douglas Gilliland do for a living?
- What is Connor Douglas Gilliland’s net worth?
- Is Connor Douglas Gilliland on social media?
- Why do people search for Connor Douglas Gilliland?
- Connor Douglas Gilliland compared with typical celebrity children
- Frequently asked questions
- Conclusion
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Connor Douglas Gilliland |
| Born | October 25, 1989 |
| Age | Turns 37 on October 25, 2026 |
| Birthplace | United States (Los Angeles is reported by some fan profiles and is unconfirmed) |
| Parents | Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland |
| Sibling | Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland, adopted in May 2009 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Son of Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland |
| Profession | Not publicly disclosed |
| Marital status | Not publicly confirmed |
| Net worth | No reliable public figure |
| Social media | No verified public accounts |
Who is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
Connor Douglas Gilliland is the elder child of actress Jean Smart and actor Richard Gilliland, and he is known to the public only through his family name. Connor Douglas Gilliland holds no verified acting credits, runs no verified public social media account, and gives no interviews. Search engines surface Connor Douglas Gilliland because his mother is one of the most awarded television actresses of her generation, and readers want to know who stands behind the famous surname.
Readers who follow celebrity family stories can explore more profiles in the General archive.
How old is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
Connor Douglas Gilliland is 36 years old at the time of writing, and he turns 37 on October 25, 2026, which falls one day after this article’s publication date. Connor Douglas Gilliland was born on October 25, 1989. His zodiac sign is Scorpio. Several older profiles still list Connor Douglas Gilliland as 33 or 35, and those figures are stale copies from earlier years. Any profile that lists Connor Douglas Gilliland’s age without a birth year deserves a second look, because the birth date itself is the one fact nearly every source agrees on.
Who are Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents?
Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents are Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland, two working television actors who married in 1987 and stayed married until Richard Gilliland’s death in 2021. Jean Smart was born on September 13, 1951, in Seattle, Washington, and her work spans comedy and drama across five decades. Jean Smart first gained wide attention as Charlene Frazier Stillfield on the CBS sitcom Designing Women from 1986 to 1991, then won Primetime Emmy Awards for Frasier, Samantha Who?, and Hacks, where Jean Smart plays Las Vegas comedy star Deborah Vance. Jean Smart’s career also includes Fargo, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, and the voice of Ann Possible in Kim Possible. Richard Gilliland was born on January 23, 1950, in Fort Worth, Texas, and Richard Gilliland built a long career as a character actor in television. Richard Gilliland’s credits include Designing Women, Thirtysomething, Party of Five, The Unit, 24, Criminal Minds, and Imposters. Read Jean Smart’s career in full on her Wikipedia biography page.
How did Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland meet?
Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland met in 1986 on the set of Designing Women, where Richard Gilliland joined the cast as J.D. Shackelford, the boyfriend of Annie Potts’s character Mary Jo Shively. Jean Smart later told Northwest Prime Time in a 2017 interview that she liked Richard Gilliland from the moment she saw him, and she joked, “I met him when he was kissing someone else,” because Richard Gilliland was playing a love interest on screen. Jean Smart asked fellow cast member Delta Burke to check whether Richard Gilliland was married, and Delta Burke walked straight up to Richard Gilliland and told him Jean Smart wanted to know. The couple married in June 1987 in the garden of Designing Women stars Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook. Connor Douglas Gilliland was born two years later, on October 25, 1989.
What was Connor Douglas Gilliland’s childhood like?
Connor Douglas Gilliland spent his childhood around television production, because both of his parents worked on sets while he was growing up. Jean Smart has described sitting a two-year-old Connor Douglas Gilliland in a director’s chair with headphones on the Designing Women set, where the toddler learned to shush the room when the quiet buzzer sounded. Jean Smart has also described the contrast between that lively set and Connor Douglas Gilliland’s thoughtful, serious character as a child. Jean Smart once described the feeling of becoming a parent as a powerful sense of completeness, in comments reported from Designing Women Online. The family kept Connor Douglas Gilliland out of the press as much as two working actors could, and Connor Douglas Gilliland never became a child performer. That early boundary set the pattern for his adult life: access to Hollywood, without a Hollywood career.
Does Connor Douglas Gilliland have siblings?
Yes, Connor Douglas Gilliland has one younger sister, Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland, who was adopted from China in May 2009. Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland was about 10 months old at adoption, and Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland was born sometime in 2008. Jean Smart, Richard Gilliland, and Connor Douglas Gilliland traveled to East Asia to bring Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland home, after an adoption process Jean Smart later said took a long time and felt more than worth the wait. Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland was named in part for family members, and Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland has also grown up outside the spotlight. Some profiles wrongly list Connor Douglas Gilliland as an only child, and those profiles predate or ignore the 2009 adoption. The reliable count is two children: Connor Douglas Gilliland and Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland.
Read the full profile of Todd Russaw, another celebrity family story covered on this site.
What happened to Connor Douglas Gilliland’s father?
Richard Gilliland died on March 18, 2021, at the age of 71, after a brief illness in Los Angeles, California. The family announced Richard Gilliland’s death through his representatives, and the family asked for donations to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Institute for Medical Engineering and Science in Richard Gilliland’s memory. Richard Gilliland and Jean Smart had planned to work together again that summer on a film directed by Tate Taylor, and Jean Smart went ahead with her own projects, including Hacks and Mare of Easttown, in the months after Richard Gilliland’s death. Connor Douglas Gilliland stayed out of public statements about the loss, and no public tribute from Connor Douglas Gilliland exists in major outlets. Jean Smart has since spoken about grief in interviews, and Jean Smart’s later work, including her Hacks wins, arrived while Jean Smart raised two children as a widowed parent.
What does Connor Douglas Gilliland do for a living?
No verified public source states what Connor Douglas Gilliland does for a living, and no acting credits, company filings, or interviews confirm a profession for Connor Douglas Gilliland. Some fan profiles leave the profession field blank, and that blank field is the honest answer. Other profiles guess at a private business career, but no named employer, job title, or project supports those guesses. Connor Douglas Gilliland did not follow his parents into acting in any public way, and Connor Douglas Gilliland has no producer, director, or writer credits in public databases. A private career is a real possibility, and a private career would match the life Connor Douglas Gilliland has chosen. Readers should treat any article that assigns Connor Douglas Gilliland a specific job as speculation, unless the article names its source.
What is Connor Douglas Gilliland’s net worth?
No reliable public figure exists for Connor Douglas Gilliland’s net worth, and the often repeated 500,000 dollar estimate comes from a single fan site with no named source. Net worth aggregators copy that figure from one another, and copying does not turn a guess into a fact. Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents earned substantial television incomes across long careers, but a parent’s wealth is not a child’s bank balance, and no probate record, interview, or financial filing puts a number on Connor Douglas Gilliland’s own assets. Height claims fail the same test: some profiles list Connor Douglas Gilliland at 5 feet 9 inches, others list 5 feet 10 inches, and no verified measurement backs either figure. Weight, eye color, and hair color claims in bio tables trace back to the same unsourced fan profiles.
| Claim about Connor Douglas Gilliland | Status |
|---|---|
| Born October 25, 1989 | Verified across many sources |
| Son of Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland | Verified |
| Sister Bonnie adopted in May 2009 | Verified |
| Net worth of 500,000 dollars | Unverified, single fan-site estimate |
| Height of 5 feet 9 inches or 5 feet 10 inches | Unverified, figures conflict |
| Specific job or employer | Unverified, no named source |
| Verified public social media account | None found |
Is Connor Douglas Gilliland on social media?
No, Connor Douglas Gilliland has no verified public social media account, and accounts using his name are fan-run or unverified. A search for Connor Douglas Gilliland returns fan pages, photo reposts, and profiles that borrow his family photos, and none of those accounts carry a verification badge or a link from a trusted outlet. Connor Douglas Gilliland’s choice to stay private makes fake accounts easy to build, because fans have few real posts to compare against. Readers who want news about the family should follow Jean Smart’s verified coverage in major outlets instead, and readers should treat any account claiming to be Connor Douglas Gilliland as unverified unless a major outlet confirms it.
Why do people search for Connor Douglas Gilliland?
People search for Connor Douglas Gilliland because Jean Smart’s late-career success keeps her family in the news, and because private celebrity children invite curiosity. Jean Smart won new Emmy Awards for Hacks in 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026, and each awards season brings fresh searches for Jean Smart’s husband, children, and family life. Connor Douglas Gilliland also draws searches around his October 25 birthday, when birthday roundups republish his bio. Digital Geek Spot covers celebrity families, television stars, and trending profiles in this style, and this profile aims to answer the search with facts that survive a second check. Curiosity about a private person deserves a careful answer, and careful answers name what is unknown instead of filling gaps with guesses.
Connor Douglas Gilliland compared with typical celebrity children
Connor Douglas Gilliland differs from typical celebrity children in one clear way: Connor Douglas Gilliland chose privacy and kept it, while many celebrity children build public brands. The table below makes the contrast concrete.
| Trait | Connor Douglas Gilliland | Typical celebrity child |
|---|---|---|
| Public career | None verified | Acting, music, or influencing career |
| Social media | No verified accounts | Large verified following |
| Interviews | None found | Regular press and podcast appearances |
| Brand deals | None known | Endorsements and product lines |
| Family visibility | Appears rarely, at family events | Appears often, on red carpets |
| Public records | Birth date and family ties only | Career credits, relationships, and businesses |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
Connor Douglas Gilliland is the elder son of actress Jean Smart and late actor Richard Gilliland. Connor Douglas Gilliland was born on October 25, 1989, and Connor Douglas Gilliland lives a private life with no verified public career or social media presence.
How old is Connor Douglas Gilliland?
Connor Douglas Gilliland is 36 years old at the time of writing and turns 37 on October 25, 2026. Connor Douglas Gilliland’s birth date of October 25, 1989, is confirmed across many independent profiles and family reports.
Who are Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents?
Connor Douglas Gilliland’s parents are Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland. Jean Smart is an Emmy-winning actress known for Designing Women, Frasier, and Hacks, and Richard Gilliland was a television character actor who died in March 2021.
Does Connor Douglas Gilliland have siblings?
Yes, Connor Douglas Gilliland has a younger sister named Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland. Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland was adopted from China in May 2009 at about 10 months old, and Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland also lives outside the public eye.
What is Connor Douglas Gilliland’s net worth?
No reliable public figure exists for Connor Douglas Gilliland’s net worth. The often repeated 500,000 dollar estimate comes from one fan site with no named source, and no interview or financial record confirms it.
Is Connor Douglas Gilliland married?
No public record confirms whether Connor Douglas Gilliland is married. Some fan profiles list Connor Douglas Gilliland as unmarried, but those profiles cite no source, so marital status counts as unconfirmed rather than settled.
Conclusion
Connor Douglas Gilliland is a private person with a famous family name, and the verified story is short: son of Jean Smart and Richard Gilliland, born on October 25, 1989, elder brother to Bonnie Kathleen Gilliland, and a man who stayed out of the spotlight after growing up inside it. Connor Douglas Gilliland turns 37 on October 25, 2026, and the birthday roundups will repeat the same bio tables, with the same unverified numbers attached. The honest version of the story leaves blanks where the record leaves blanks, and those blanks are part of the point. Connor Douglas Gilliland chose privacy, and privacy, kept for decades, is itself the story.
Read next: the full biography of Arielle Goldrath, another celebrity family profile on this site.
