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| Birth Name(s) : Willard Christopher Smith Jr. |
Date of Birth: September 25, 1968 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
N/A |
| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
Official Site
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Full Will Smith Biography
Will Smith turned down a scholarship with MIT to pursue his singing career and has gone on make a name for himself as a successful rapper and actor.
In 1989 he received the first ever Grammy award for Best Rap Performance for the song "Parents Just Don't Understand" with Jazzy Jeff. He is also referred to as the Fresh Prince for his early rap and television sitcom career. "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990) lasted six seasons.
"Six Degrees of Separation" (1993) was the feature film that turned out to be the beginning of a career that would span blockbusters such as "Independence Day" (1996), "Men In Black" (1997) and "Wild Wild West" (1999). |
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Additional Will Smith Biography
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is a Golden Globe and a two time Academy Award-nominated American actor, and a multiple Grammy Award-winning hip hop artist. He is one of a small group of people who have enjoyed success in three major entertainment media in the United States: feature films, television, and the music industry. Newsweek has named him the most powerful actor on the planet.
Smith's most notable television role was that of William "Will" Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In his film work, his notable roles include Agent J in Men in Black and Men in Black II, Muhammad Ali in Ali, as well as his role in the blockbuster Independence Day and more recently as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness with his son Jaden Smith.
Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime." They gained critical acclaim for winning the first ever Grammy in the Rap category (1988). He had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Gulf War song by a celebrity group.
After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Smith began a successful solo music career while simultaneously starring in a series of films. The first two films were hugely successful summer blockbusters: Independence Day (1996), in which he played a fearless and confident fighter pilot, and Men in Black (1997), where he played the comic and confident Agent J against Tommy Lee Jones's deadpan Agent K. Smith's acting in Men in Black won critical praise. He originally rejected the lead role in Men in Black, but wife Jada Pinkett Smith coaxed him into acceptance. The two films established Smith's commercial reputation as a bankable star whose appeal across age, race, and gender lines could "open" a film at the box office. Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West. After the failure of Wild Wild West and watching Keanu Reeves' performance, he suggests that he would not have been the appropriate actor for the role at the time, but still considers passing on The Matrix as a big mistake. He then gained lead roles in several box office successes including Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, Hitch, and I, Robot.
Smith is one of only two hip-hop artists to receive an Oscar nomination in an acting category (Best Actor, Ali, 2001), for his portrayal of the boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Clay, in the biopic. He was also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role in another true-life movie, The Pursuit of Happyness where he played Chris Gardner in his rags to riches story.
Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith created the UPN (later CW) sitcom All of Us, which was loosely based on their lives. The show debuted on UPN in September 2003 and aired there for three seasons before moving to The CW in October 2006 for one more season. The CW cancelled All of Us in May 2007.
Smith appeared as himself in Jersey Girl delivering the Silent Bob speech that appears in nearly all Kevin Smith movies. The lead character's situation is due to the claim, "Will Smith is just a rapper".
Smith can be found most recently starring in The Pursuit of Happyness with his son Jaden Smith; he received his second Academy Award nomination for the role for Best Actor but lost to Forest Whitaker.
Smith's next film will be I Am Legend in 2007, based on the novel of the same name. In the film, Smith will play the last man on Earth.
Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had a son, Willard Christopher III, also known as "Trey", but divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1997 single, "Just The Two Of Us." Smith married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Together they have had two children: Jaden Christopher Syre (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness, and Willow Camille Reign (born 2000). Along with his brother, Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after his first son. He has been consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. Smith and his family reside on Star Island (Florida) in Miami, Florida, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Sweden and in Philadelphia. He helped the community by giving money to Katrina victims. Smith is politically liberal and has made several large donations to the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. He was also contacted as a guest among the STAR list to attend the annual Passover Unity Event at the House of Yahweh in Israel that is sponsored by the Amariel Family.
On July 2, 2005, Smith served as host for the Live 8 concert in his native Philadelphia in front of an enormous crowd, and later performed a set with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith are good friends of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, which has led to rumors that Will Smith is a believer in Scientology. He has denied that he has joined the Church of Scientology but has said "I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious."
In 2005, Will Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24 hour time span. |
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| When I turned 28, everything clicked. I even got way better in bed. |
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