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Birth of a Lengend
Will Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised in Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia, on September 25, 1968. His real name is Willard Christopher Smith Jr. Will grew up in his Philadelphia neighborhood where Orthodox Jews co-existed with a large Muslim population. Born to Willard C. Smith and to mother Caroline. Caroline was a school board employee. His father was a owner of a refrigerated company. Will was middle class and Catholic Overbrook High School. Smith was a good -
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Lengend birth
Will Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised in Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia, on September 25, 1968. -
The Meet
Smith began rapping at age 12 looking up to Grandmaster Flash. Smith one day went to a party and met a DJ by the name of Jeff Townes. Both became friends and later became the Duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince at age 16. -
The Rumor
"My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college.“ -
The Rap City
Will looked up to people like Grandmaster Flash and by age twelve was writing his own lyrics. Once, at a party, he met Jeff Townes, a local DJ. The two hit it off immediately and eventually became known as DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. -
Continue on Movie Making
While still making The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith began a second crossover into movies. Small roles in the drama Where The Day Takes You (1992) and the comedy Made In America (1993) were followed by a critically acclaimed lead in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Smith played a charming street-wise kid moving among the wealthy elite, who was also a psychologically complex gay hustler. The film enjoyed moderate success, but its title idea has become a household term for the closenes -
The Spotlight
Smith's first steps into super-stardom came with his next film, Bad Boys (1995). The high-budget cop movie saw him team up with comic Martin Lawrence, breaking away from the black-cop-white-cop formula that had been so successful for Beverly Hills Cop and the Lethal Weapon series. The 1996, epic sci-fi disaster movie Independence Day was his next film. The role confirmed Smith as a major player in Hollywood and the go-to guy for summer blockbusters. Smith played an air force pilot leading the co -
The Follow Up
Smith fought aliens again in his next blockbuster, the comic sci-fi action film, Men In Black (1997). The string of hits came to an end in 1999 with Wild Wild West, a sci-fi cowboy Western co-starring Kevin Kline. Despite the film's lackluster box-office performance, the track Smith cut for the film became a hit on his album, Willennium (1999). The golf movie The Legend of Bagger Vance was his next big film. Smith playing the caddie to Matt Damon's out-of-sorts swinger. -
Movie Star
In 2001 the biopic Ali, based on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, saw Smith return to critical acclaim. His turn as the charismatic boxing great saw Smith put in the performance of his life, training and disciplining himself to extraordinary lengths to do justice to the athleticism, and ego, of the films main character. The film under-performed at the box-office despite a record-breaking opening day. Smith's performance, however, was good enough to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
