Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II[3] (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper and film producer. He has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Grammy Awards.[4][5][6] As of 2024, his films have grossed over $9.3 billion globally,[7] making him one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.[8][9]
For his self-titled character, see Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). For other people named Will Smith, see Will Smith (disambiguation).
Will Smith
Smith began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1993 and 1994. He first gained recognition as part of a hip hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom he released five studio albums and the US Billboard Hot 100 top 20 singles "Parents Just Don't Understand", "A Nightmare on My Street", "Summertime", "Ring My Bell", and "Boom! Shake the Room" from 1984 to 1994. He released the solo albums Big Willie Style (1997), Willennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), and Lost and Found (2005), which contained the US number-one singles "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and "Wild Wild West". He has received four Grammy Awards for his rap performances.[10]
Smith achieved wider fame as a leading man for the action film Bad Boys (1995) and the science fiction comedy Men in Black (1997); he later reprised his role in several sequels. After starring in the thrillers Independence Day (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998), he received Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his portrayals of Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001), and Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). He starred in the commercially successful films I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Seven Pounds (2008), Suicide Squad (2016), Aladdin (2019), as well as the dramas Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Concussion (2015), and Emancipation (2022).[11]
For his portrayal of Richard Williams in the biographical sports drama King Richard (2021), Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor.[12] At the 2022 ceremony, shortly before winning, Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock after Rock made an unscripted joke[13] referencing Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The controversial event earned substantial media coverage and criticism with Smith ultimately resigning from the Academy along with being banned from attending all their events for ten years.[14]
Early life
Willard Carroll Smith II was born on September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, to Caroline (née Bright), a school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith Sr.,[15][16] a US Air Force veteran[17] and refrigeration engineer. His mother graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.[18]
He grew up in West Philadelphia's Wynnefield neighborhood[19] and was raised Baptist.[20] He has an elder sister named Pamela and two younger siblings, twins Harry and Ellen.[19] He attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia,[21] and Overbrook High School.[22] His parents separated when he was 13[23] and divorced around the year 2000.[24]
Smith began rapping at age 12. When his grandmother found a notebook of his lyrics, which he described as containing "all [his] little curse words", she wrote him a note on a page in the book: "Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you're as smart as we think you are". Smith said that this influenced his decision not to use profanity in his music.[25]
