Will Smith Biography And Net Worth

Who is Will Smith?

Willard Carroll Smith II is an American actor, rapper and film producer. He has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Grammy Awards. As of 2023, his films have grossed over $9.3 billion globally, making him one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars.

Bio Data

Biography

Willard Carroll Smith II was born on September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, to Caroline (née Bright), a school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith Sr., a US Air Force veteran and refrigeration engineer. His mother graduated from Carnegie Mellon University.

He grew up in West Philadelphia’s Wynnefield neighbourhood and was raised Baptist. He has an elder sister named Pamela and two younger siblings, twins Harry and Ellen. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia, and Overbrook High School. His parents separated when he was 13 and divorced around the year 2000.

Smith began rapping at age 12. When his grandmother found a notebook of his lyrics, which he described as containing “all [his] little curse words”, she wrote him a note on a page in the book: “Dear Willard, truly intelligent people do not have to use words like this to express themselves. Please show the world that you’re as smart as we think you are”. Smith said that this influenced his decision not to use profanity in his music.

Career

Smith began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996). He first gained 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 to 1994. He released the solo albums Big Willie Style (1997), Millennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), and Lost and Found (2005), which contained the US number-one singles “Gettin’ Jiggy wit It” and “Wild Wild West”. He has received four Grammy Awards for his rap performances.

Smith achieved wider fame as a leading man in films such as the action film Bad Boys (1995), its sequels Bad Boys II (2003) and Bad Boys for Life (2020), and 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), he received Academy Awards for Best Actor nominations for his portrayal of Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001), and as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). He then starred in a range of commercially successful films, including I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Seven Pounds (2008), Suicide Squad (2016) and Aladdin (2019).

For his portrayal of Richard Williams in the biographical sports drama King Richard (2021), Smith won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.

Net Worth

Will Smith has a net worth of $350 million. Every year, Will Smith earns at least $40 million from his various endeavours and has earned as much as $80 million in some years.

At the peak of his career in the 2000s, Will earned $20 – $30 million per movie. In recent years he has earned massive single-film salaries from Netflix. He reportedly earned $20 million for the 2017 Netflix movie “Bright” and $35 million for its sequel. With bonuses, he earned $60 million for “King Richard.”

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Personal Life

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, and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the David Blaine: Real or Magic TV special.

Smith married actress Jada Koren Pinkett on December 31, 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; and 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 a “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.

At the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony, shortly before winning, Smith faced public backlash for slapping and shouting at Oscar presenter Chris Rock after Rock made an unscripted joke referencing Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith subsequently resigned from the Academy and was banned from attending all Academy functions, including the Oscars, for ten years.

Will Smith is also somewhat of a social media superstar. As of this writing, Will has over 64 million followers on Instagram, almost 10 million subscribers on YouTube, and 73.7 million followers on TikTok.

FAQs

Are Will Smith and Jada Pinkett still married?

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett have been married for 25 years. They have both been open about the struggles and triumphs of their strong union over the years.

Who was Will Smith’s ex-wife?

Sheree Zampino

How old is Jaden Smith now?

Jaden Smith was born on July 8th, 1998 (25 years)

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