Lifetime Television - 2003

Jean Smart and actor A Martinez (L.A. Law, Santa Barbara) star in the LIFETIME Original Movie Killer Instinct: From the Files of Agent Candice DeLong, the fast-paced, harrowing drama inspired by Candice DeLong, one of the FBI's first female profilers. The film, a composite of many different cases DeLong worked on, focuses on her search for the identity of a savage serial killer with the help of her partner and married lover, Bobby Mazariegos (Martinez). But the hunt turns personal when the killer terrorizes Candice in her own home and decides she will be his next victim.

"Candice DeLong has an amazing story to tell, and it's particularly interesting because she was a woman in an exclusively man's world in the FBI," said Executive Producer Robert M. Sertner. "Here is someone who is passionate about her work and, as a single mother, just as passionate about raising her young son. At the beginning of the film, she hits bottom after a case she's been working on ends tragically. It makes her examine her intentions, and acknowledge that every choice she makes inevitably affects everyone around her," Sertner explained. "She's at a crossroads between wanting to leave the bureau and solving her last big case. Candice has a really gritty side to her as well as a softer side, and Jean does a fabulous job portraying that mix and conflict of textures to her personality."

"I loved the idea of a woman getting the chance to play a character that wears a gun and catches the bad guy," Smart exclaimed. "When I was a kid I wanted to be a cop. I had an aunt who was a police officer, and that has always appealed to me." Smart's admiration for DeLong's profession extends to her honesty and forthrightness raising her son as a single mother. Smart noted, "She's a little hot-headed, and she doesn't hold back even when she should at times. But her story is exciting and inspirational because it dares women to go ahead and do what really matters to them."

Killer Instinct: From the Files of Agent Candice DeLong is based on the book Special Agent: My Life on the Front Lines as a Woman in the FBI, by Candice DeLong.