Transformers: Will Smith
Despite the charming antics, Smith was an excellent student in the classroom at Overbrook High School. The story was that Smith turned down a scholarship offer to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But in reality, Smith's mother, who attended Carnegie Mellon, was the one pushing her son to go to college. Smith had every intention of fulfilling his real dream - rapping.
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At the age of 12, Smith began to pursue his dream of rapping. Thanks to the influence of hip-hop legend and idol, Grandmaster Flash, Smith was able to successfully develop his own unique rapping style. Four years later, at the age of 16, Smith would meet Jeff Townes. Townes was four years older then Smith and was one of Philadelphia's best DJs. Better known to the world as DJ Jazzy Jeff, he was an inventive scratcher who provided appropriately playful backdrops. The two would work together with Smith, going by the name 'Fresh Prince' doing the vocals and Jazzy Jeff overseeing the mixing and scratching element.
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The two came together and first performed as DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince in 1986. Later on in that year, the duo would perform at the New Music Seminar where Jeff placed first in the DJ competition. As a result, the two would land a record deal with Jive Records and record their breakout first single "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble." Together, the duo would release five albums. Three of which ('Rock The House' (1987) He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper' (1989), Homebase (1991) went platinum. The success is even more remarkable considering their clean and cheery rap lyrics when gangster rap was started to bubble up as the mainstream choice for rap music. Before breaking up and pursing their respective careers, the group released their biggest hit 'Summertime' which became an anthem associated with the start of summer.
After Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff went their separate ways, Smith pursued a solo rap career and landed a smash CD with 'Big Willie Style' in 1997. The 8x Platinum album was released on Columbia Records in the United States on November 25, 1997 and featured several popular singles including "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It", "Miami", "Just the Two of Us" and "Men In Black", which was also released earlier in the year on the soundtrack for the movie Men In Black. Smith was awarded with a Grammy Award in 1997 in the Best Rap Solo Performance category for the song "Men In Black" and in 1998 for "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It."
In the fall of 1990, 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' was born. The show starred Smith who was a streetwise teenager from West Philadelphia who moved to live with his uncle and aunt in Bel Air, California in order to stay out of trouble. 'Fresh Prince' was quite successful on NBC, airing for six seasons and has been a mainstay in syndication since the show went off the air in 1996. The show helped launch the careers of several black actors and actresses including Nia Long (Lisa Wilkes), Tyra Banks (Jackie Ames) and Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks).
Following the success of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' it was only naturally that Hollywood would start to call for Smith. His first major role in a film was in 'Made In America' starring Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson. Smith played the best friend of Goldberg's onscreen daughter who was played by Nia Long. Long and Smith would later play love interests on the 'Fresh Prince.' Smith would be best known in his young film career for his role in the Oscar-nominated film, 'Six Degrees of Separation.' Based on the play that shares the same name, the plot of the film was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier.
Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992 after meeting on the set of the television show 'A Different World. Together the two had a son, Willard Carroll Smith (Trey). Three years later, they would divorce. In 1997, Smith gave marriage another try; this time with actress Jada Pinkett. Pinkett and Smith got married on New Year's Eve 1997. Over the years, they have epitomized the image of the strong black Hollywood couple, as you will rarely photograph the two without each other. Pinkett has a son (Jaden Christopher Smith) and a daughter (Willow Camille Reign Smith) with Smith.
Smith's marquee movie on the big screen came in 1995, when he starred alongside Martin Lawrence in 'Bad Boys.' With a total of almost $141 million in ticket sales worldwide, Bad Boys generated a huge profit for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Columbia Pictures, and it also led to more big time movies for then-newcomers Smith, Lawrence and director Michael Bay. Eight years later, Bruckheimer was back at it again with 'Bad Boys II,' the sequel which added actress Gabrielle Union to the supporting cast. It made $138 million, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, which was more than the original movie.
After Bad Boys, things only got better for Will Smith. He starred in over a dozen films including Independence Day (1996), Men in Black (1997), Enemy of the State (1998), Ali (2001), I, Robot (2004), Hitch (2005) and the Pursuit of Happyness (2006) to name a few. Over the span of his acting career, he's won 28 awards and has been nominated for 49 others including two Oscar nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Ali and in The Pursuit of Happyness.
At the end of 2006, Smith starred in the 'The Pursuit of Happyness,' a film based loosely on the true story of Christopher Gardner, a self-made millionaire who was homelessness while raising his son, Christopher Jr. in San Francisco during the 1980s. Smith had the opportunity to co-star along with his son, Jaden, who played Gardner's song in the film. The film brought on a slew of awards and nominations ranging from an Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.
In 2001, Smith played the great boxing legend Muhammad Ali in the Academy Award-nominated biopic 'Ali.' Staring Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Jeffrey Wright and Jada Pinkett Smith, the film focuses on the first turbulent decade of the boxer's professional career from his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston to his banishment from boxing and his eventual return and great title fight against George Foreman in the Rumble In The Jungle fight in 1974. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Smith) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Voight).
Following the box office success of 'Independence Day' in 1996, Smith and veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones teamed up together in 'Men in Black.' The film was based on the comic book series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham, by Aircel Comics which is owned by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature animation of Rick Baker. The movie was a hit, grossing over USD$250 million in the United States and over $589 million worldwide. It was followed by a sequel, Men in Black II, in 2002 and a spinoff animated television series created by Sony Pictures.
Along with his wife Jada, the two would create and produce the sitcom 'All of Us,' which aired for four seasons on UPN and The CW. The show was about Robert James (Duane Martin), a California-based TV entertainment reporter with a young son, Bobby Jr. (Khamani Griffin). He is divorced from his ex-wife Neesee James (LisaRaye McCoy) and now dealing with Neesee having to move back in after her apartment burned down. This only compounds the pain of dealing with being single again after being left by his former fiancée Tia Jewel (Elise Neal). Robert and Neesee receive support from Dirk Black (Tony Rock), Robert's best friend and co-host of his new show. The show was canceled on May 15 but is still in syndication.