Jaden Smith

Born in Malibu (California), on July 8, 1998, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith was the first child of television and movie star Will Smith , with his second wife, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith. He has a half-brother, Trey Smith (the offspring of his father’s relationship with Sheree Zampino), and a younger sister, Willow Smith , both also actors.

His father insisted that he make a cameo when he was 4 years old, in the promotional video clip for Men in Black II , where he had to come out dressed in a suit, like Smith, giving him the sunglasses. But the boy would not stop crying, so he finally had to be replaced by his sister, Willow. However, at the age of 5, he appeared in several episodes of All of Us , a series created by his parents, inspired by their own family relationships.

One day, Mark Clayman, Will Smith ‘s partner in the Overbrook Entertainment company, discovered on a television program the moving true story of Chris Gardner, a guy who had to make a titanic effort to raise his son despite his serious problems. economic. Clayman was moved by the story and thought it was an ideal role for Smith. He believed that his interpretation would be more realistic if he appeared on screen with his real son, who was 8 years old at the time. The original was only 2 when the actual events occurred, but the script was adapted to Jaden’s age.

The film ended up being titled The Pursuit of Happiness , with the Italian Gabriele Muccino as director. It was a huge success, not least because of the screen magic between Will Smith and Jaden, who turned out to be a believable and expressive young performer. His father came to compete for the Oscar for best actor and the little one did not do badly, as he won the MTV award for best newcomer, and became a celebrity. At the Academy Awards ceremony, he presented the award for best live action short film with Abigail Breslin. Despite his fame, he has always considered himself an ordinary guy. “I always skate with friends from my neighborhood. I’m very normal. I love skating,” he has stated.

Offers rained down on little Jaden Smith . He agreed to play the son of the scientist played by Jennifer Connelly in Ultimatum on Earth , an unsuccessful remake of the 1951 science fiction classic. The boy was the first to make contact with Klaatu, an alien, played by Keanu Reeves . But his heartfelt performance is almost one of the film’s few draws.

It was clear that the son of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air had inherited his fondness for the camera from his aristocratic father. Will Smith tried the hardest yet, producing a remake of the legendary The Karate Kid conceived entirely for the show of his little one, to be shot in China. Jackie Chan became the teacher, and while he more or less sticks to the title, The Karate Kid , this time he was teaching him kung-fu. For the rest, it was a film very similar to his model that also triumphed at the box office.

The idea that gave rise to the film After Earth was born from a conversation between father and son. “Jaden and I were sitting down one night watching TV and talking about how much we loved working together on The Pursuit of Happyness and we came to the conclusion that we should do it again,” recalls Will Smith .. “And as we were talking about finding a story to do together, with the news in the background, Jaden said, ‘Maybe I could be your son, I’m in trouble and you have to come home from the war.’ This took shape in the The idea of ​​a father and son going on a rapprochement trip to Alaska and having to deal with the forces of nature, it was a fun and interesting conversation and we got to the idea of ​​taking the story a thousand years into the future. That’s how we conceived the concept of After Earth .”

Smith senior – who appears as the creator of the story in the credits – hired Gary Whitta ( The Book of Eli ) as a screenwriter, who was commissioned to focus the story on the efforts of a parent to teach his son in a borderline situation. The script was also retouched by the designated filmmaker, M. Night Shyamalan , in a commissioned project unusual in his filmography, following the failure of Airbender: The Last Warrior .

Unlike in The Pursuit of Happyness , this time Jaden carries most of the weight of the film, while his father is more secondary. He plays a teenager who, after an accident on the ship in which he was traveling with his parent, who has been seriously injured, must undertake a dangerous journey in search of help. “My father has given me the best advice for acting. Before, he spent his time very aware of me. When we shot The Karate Kid , for which he was the producer, he was there all the time. Now he trusts me more and leaves me more to my air”, explained the young star.

Like the spaceship of the protagonists, the film also crashed at the box office, since it did not obtain the expected revenue to make the 130 million dollar budget profitable. Critics have reviled the tape, and it has even been accused of secret propaganda for the Church of Scientology. This bump was not expected considering that Will Smith always triumphs with everything. The star had expressed his fear that the film would obtain second place in the list of the highest grossing of the weekend of its premiere in the United States. And finally, it was the third. Now, he plans to dedicate himself to more intimate productions. “It’s too much pressure that my films have to be box office smashes,” he explained.

Although Jaden Smith is already at an age where he begins to interest girls, his father has advised him in interviews not to have a girlfriend. “Right now I want her to find out who she is. Joining another person is difficult and in the process you can lose yourself,” said Will Smith. Still, the boy wrote a romantic song, “Starry Room”, for actress Stella Hudgens ( The Memory thief ), younger sister of Vanessa Hudgens . In addition, various media have pointed out that Jaden could have a relationship with Kylie Jenner, one of Kim Kardashian ‘s little sisters . The media also published that Jaden wanted to emancipate himself from his parents, but he has stated that he is a long way from his Independence Day. “The worst thing about having famous parents is that the paparazzi follow you when you try to go to school. And they make things up about you,” she has said.