Will Smith is an American actor. He recently made headlines after an incident during the Oscars 2022.
So let’s find out some trivia and facts about his life and career.
- His full name is Willard Carroll Smith II
- He was born on September 25, 1968
- He is also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince
- He is an American actor, rapper, and film producer
- Smith first achieved 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 and 1994
- Smith released the solo albums Big Willie Style (1997), Willennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), and Lost and Found (2005)
- These albums contained the US number one singles “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” and “Wild Wild West”
- Smith achieved wider fame for his fictionalized self-portrayal on the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996)
- For the series he received two nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy
- He also starred in the action film Bad Boys (1995), and its sequels Bad Boys II (2003) and Bad Boys for Life (2020)
- As well as the sci-fi comedies Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), and Men in Black 3 (2012)
- After starring in the thrillers Independence Day (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998)
- Smith portrayed Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001)
- The film earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
- Smith then starred in a range of commercially successful films, including I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), and Seven Pounds (2008)
- He gained his second Academy Award nomination for portraying Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
- Smith’s portrayal of Bennet Omalu in Concussion (2015) was positively received
- This was followed by portrayals of Deadshot in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) superhero film Suicide Squad (2016) and the Genie in the live-action Aladdin (2019)
- Smith’s portrayal of the tennis coach Richard Williams in King Richard (2021) received the Academy Award, British Academy Film Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award and Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
- Smith has written two books
- The children’s book Just the two of Us (2001) and The New York Times best selling memoir Will (2021)
- The latter was co-written with Mark Manson
- Smith is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and four Grammy Awards, in addition to a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award
- His films have grossed over $9.3 billion at the global box office
- He holds several US and international box office records
- Smith was born on September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Caroline, a Philadelphia school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith Sr., a U.S. Air Force veteran and refrigeration engineer
- His mother graduated from Carnegie Mellon University
- He grew up in West Philadelphia’s Wynnefield neighborhood
- He was raised Baptist
- He has an older sister named Pamela and two younger siblings, twins Harry and Ellen
- Smith attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia
- His parents separated when he was 13
- He did not actually divorce until around 2000
- Smith attended Overbrook High School
- Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992
- Their son Willard Carroll “Trey” Smith III was born on November 11, 1992
- The two divorced in 1995
- Trey appeared in his father’s music video for the 1998 single “Just the Two of Us”
- He also acted in two episodes of the sitcom All of Us
- He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the David Blaine: Real or Magic TV special
- Smith married actress Jada Koren Pinkett in 1997
- They met when Pinkett auditioned for a role as Smith’s character’s girlfriend in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- The pair produce films through their joint production company Overbrook Entertainment and Westbrook Inc
- Together they have two children
- Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness and After Earth
- Willow Camille Reign Smith (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend
- Smith and his wife Jada have expressed unconventional practices in their marriage, jokingly calling their commitment “bad marriage for life”
- Both he and Pinkett Smith have admitted to having extramarital relationships and believing in the freedom to pursue them
- Smith has said he wanted a polyamorous relationship with actress Halle Berry and ballerina Misty Copeland but ultimately abandoned the idea after therapy
- Smith and his brother Harry own Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills-based company named after Trey Smith, and his family resides in Los Angeles, California
- In 2018, Smith celebrated his 50th birthday by performing a bungee jump from a helicopter in the Grand Canyon
- Smith was insured by Lloyd’s of London for $200 million for the jump which raised money for the charity Global Citizen
- Smith has often been noted for achieving groundbreaking success throughout his musical career, and with his work as an actor in television and film
- He has been cited as one of the “greatest actors” of his generation by several publications
- Smith’s transition from music to acting has influenced multiple rappers to also become actors
- With him being cited as a pioneer for the rappers crossing over into acting by Complex
- In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world
- In 2008 Esquire named him one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century
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