Will Smith

Will Smith is one of the most successful and influential actors of our generation. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film, and has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards. Will Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Sr. and Katherine Esther (née McCrary). Smith's father was a drug dealer and his mother was a housewife. He has two younger brothers, RJ and Jaden, and a younger sister, Shayne. When he was young, Smith's family moved to West Philadelphia, which is where he began his rap career. Smith's career began to take off in the late 1980s when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith transitioned from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films that received broad box office success. In fact, he is the only actor in history to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office as well as being the only actor to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the #1 spot in the domestic box office tally. Fourteen of the 19 fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and 4 of them took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch, and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali, and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two. Today, Will Smith is one of the most respected and popular actors in the world, and his influence is felt in both film and music. He is currently married to Jada Pinkett Smith, and they have two children, Willow and Jaden Smith.