Last Updated on January 22, 2022
Will Smith is a simple kid from Philadelphia who has achieved incredible success twice: in the mid-’80s, pioneering the “hip-hop comic” genre, and ten years later, earning recognition from audiences and critics the world over. Among his most outstanding works are Independence Day, Men in Black, Bad Boys, I Am Robot, I Am Legend, The Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock and many other great films that have become Hollywood classics. The actor has been nominated twice for an Oscar for Best Actor: in 2002 (“Ali”) and 2007 (“Chasing Happiness”). Smith over his long career was able to collect an impressive net worth of 350,000 million dollars.
| Net Worth | 350 000 000 $ |
|---|---|
| Born | September 25, 1968 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Residence | – |
| Occupation | Actor,film producer,rapper |
Early Ages
Will Smith is the second of four children in a large family of schoolteacher Carol and reefer engineer and former U.S. Air Force officer Willard. He has an older sister, Pamela, and a younger sibling, twins Harry and Ellen. When Will was 13, his parents divorced, but both his mother and father continued to have the greatest influence on the children. His father often took Will and his siblings to work with him. “My father was a real go-getter,” the actor recalls with warmth in his mind, “in the sense that he would do anything to keep his children from going hungry.
As a child, Will’s school buddies called him nothing but “Prince.” This nickname the actor received because of the innate charm and a hanging tongue. The young man could deftly get out of any trouble, and in addition, he was an excellent student, refuting racial stereotypes.
At the time of the actor’s youth, many blacks in Philadelphia did live in poverty, among them many drug addicts. But Willard Smith worked hard to get his kin out of the bottom, and taught his children to persevere in the first place.
Will ended up graduating high school with honors and was offered a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MTI – one of the top technical schools in the world), but turned it down because he preferred a career in show business. Will has been involved in contemporary music since childhood, and as a young man he made rapping his profession.
Music Career
Back in his youth, together with his best friend Jeff Towson, Will Smith formed the band DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince. All the lyrics for the duo were written by Will, and not a single song contained foul language, so DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince records could be bought by teenagers without parental permission, which helped make the project commercially successful. On the other hand, the aggressive gangsta rap artists made fun of the guys who, in their opinion, made “snotty rap for girls”.
Nevertheless, the duo was rapidly gaining popularity. For example, the single titled “Parents Just Don’t Understand” became an instant hit, and two albums by the young rappers quickly went platinum. In 1988 Will Smith and a friend became the first rapper to win the prestigious Grammy Award.
Video:Parents Just Don’t Understand
At the age of 21, the already fantastically famous Will Smith suddenly realized that all the millions he had earned had vanished somewhere, moreover, by that time he had earned a million in debt, and creditors were already demanding payment.
As luck would have it, the group’s popularity had just begun to decline – new players appeared on the American humorous hip-hop scene. Will and Jeff’s main competitors were the guys from De La Soul, and after them similar bands began to be born very quickly.
A career in movies
And then Will Smith found a lifeline in the form of an offer from NBC. The young man was invited to play himself, a tough guy from West Philadelphia who got into the Hollywood celebrity district of Beverly Hills in the television series “The Prince of Beverly Hills”.
The series ran on American television for six long years, and its success allowed the actor to pay off debts and get into professional Hollywood circles. Encouraged by the triumph, Will decided to move from television to the big screen. In a big movie, Smith made his debut in 1992, in the film “A Day in the City of Angels,” playing homeless Manny. The following year, the actor successfully brought to the screen the image of a reckless guy in the movie “Made in America. And his appearance as the charming crook Paul in the film “Six Degrees of Alienation” and really caused a sensation among viewers and critics.
Popular love of the audience came to Will Smith after the release of the action movie “Bad Boys” (1995). Here, the actor appeared as a cop together with Martin Lawrence. The contrast of their lifestyles (Will Smith played a swagger playboy, while Lawrence – a model family man) and memorable humor brought the film high marks from critics.
The mid 90’s was marked for Will Smith next jump in popularity. In 1996, he appeared before the audience sci-fi blockbuster “Independence Day” as the brave pilot Stephen Hillier.
In 1997, the actor appeared before the audience in the role, which remained for him throughout his later career. The adventures of charming Agent J from the comedy action movie “Men in Black” was loved by millions of people around the world, and Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were among the best acting duos of the 90’s. The story about a secret agency, a kind of immigration service for aliens, increased Will Smith’s bill by another five million.
At this time, the actor recalled a forgotten music career and released two consecutive albums, “Willenium” and “Big Willie Style,” which were expectedly successful. At this point, the older movie star generation became proud of Will. And Whoopi Goldberg even called the young man “sonny.” Another victory was not long in coming. The actor played alongside Gene Hackman in the movie “Enemy of the State. However, the next work, a cowboy in the comedy “Wild, Wild West” directed by Barry Sonnenfeldom, was a failure, although the track from the film again conquered the American charts.
Video: ALI Trailer
The actor soon starred in the iconic role of Mohammed Ali in the film biography “Ali.” This picture, which received a lot of rave reviews, also changed the actor a lot. According to him, he has reached the limit of his physical, spiritual, emotional capacity. Will Smith approached the role very seriously: he exhausted himself with 6-hour daily workouts, sat on a boxing diet, as a result he gained 15 kilos of muscle mass. In addition, Will studied the language and refused for a time sex, as well as his character.
After the release of the picture Smith did not even have to worry about his future. Every year the actor appeared in several pictures. But he still played dumb cops and fighters with aliens. Will regularly joked and joked in the film “Men in Black 2” and the film “Bad Boys 2.
At this time, the actor decided to switch to a dramatic role to find mental professional balance. Smith’s key work is the role of the strong-willed and serious detective in the action film “I, Robot!” Alex Proyas.
The following years Will Smith carefully chose roles, he took only significant characters, not ordinary. Thus, the heroes of the actor became a doctor-sweetheart in the melodrama 2005 “The Household Rule: The Hitch Method” and a heroic single father in the 2006 drama “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which also starred Will Smith’s son, Jayden Smith.
In 2007, his character was the only survivor of the New York movie “I Am Legend.” After that, his portfolio has added a guy in love with a terminally ill girl in the drama called “7 Lives”. Then came the role of a homeless superhero in the comedy “Hancock” with Atticus Shafer and Charlize Theron.
Popular web stories with Will Smith
After such an impressive filmography, there is no need for Will Smith to appear on the big screens every year. Among his recent works are the convoluted crime drama “Focus” in tandem with the gorgeous Margot Robbie, the tragic detective thriller “The Defender” and the comedy superhero film “Suicide Squad”.
In “Suicide Squad,” Will Smith played the role of “anti-superhero,” the assassin Deadshot. It is noteworthy that this role was claimed by many Hollywood stars: Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and even Johnny Depp, but director David Eyre still stopped at Smith. For this role, the actor had to shave his head and take a course in military field shooting. In 2017, Will delighted audiences by playing in the comedy action film “Brightness.” The action takes place in an alternate reality, where fantasy creatures live side by side with ordinary people. Smith’s character Daryl Ward works for the police, and he is assigned an orc named Jacoby (Joel Edgerton) as his partner. He becomes the first fairy-tale creature on guard duty, causing him to be mocked by both humans and tribesmen.
In 2019, after a two-year hiatus, Will Smith appeared on screen, brilliantly playing Jinn in the film adaptation of the Disney cartoon “Aladdin.” Critics’ reviews of the movie musical were mixed, with Disney blamed for exploiting the nostalgic feelings of viewers whose childhoods were in the 1990s. However, everyone unanimously praised Will’s performance. He endowed Genie with the requisite charisma and roused several musical numbers.
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In 2020, Will Smith’s voice spoke in the voice of the main character in the cartoon “Camouflage and Espionage”. In the same year, the movie “Bad Boys Forever” was released. On the set, Will Smith met his old partner Martin Lawrence.
The year 2021 saw the premiere of King Richard, starring Will Smith. The film is not about the British king at all, but about the father of tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, who is also their first coach
Video: KING RICHARD – Official Trailer
Will Smith’s Wife
For three years, Will Smith lived together with his first wife, Sheree Zampino. In 1995, the actor divorced. Will Smith’s eldest son, Willard Christopher Smith III (but everyone calls him Trey), chose to live with his mother.
The actor’s second spouse was his colleague Jada Pinkett. With this mulatto beauty Will met during her trial for the role of Smith’s partner in the series about the Prince of Beverly Hills. Then the skinny and frail Jada did not suit the huge two-meter tall Will Smith, and the girl left with nothing. But that did not stop them from becoming friends in real life, and when Will Smith’s first marriage cracked, he recalled his forgotten feelings. The couple’s marriage produced a son, Jayden (1998), and a daughter, Willow (in 2000).
Jada is not as popular an actress as her star spouse, but still boasts an impressive filmography. Among her most recent acclaimed works are the TV series “Gotham” and the comedy “Very Bad Moms”. In the Smith family harmony reigns, Jada is calm about the rumors that arise around the personal life of her husband after the premiere of each film, which featured a love line: “I am fine with the fact that Will is attracted to other women. After all, if he doesn’t appreciate female beauty in others, how can he admire my looks?”
Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada, is trying his hand at both acting and rapping. While his start-up opportunities don’t compare to what his father once had, his work doesn’t always elicit the same positive response. While his role in The Pursuit of Happyness was called a breakthrough by critics, his acting in After Our Era was called unconvincing, and the film itself received extremely low marks.
Will Smith Net Worth
Will Smith the American actor who became famous after the movie Bad Boys, was able to accumulate an impressive net worth of 350,000 million dollars
