The Life And Fame of The Fresh Prince, Will Smith

Will Smith has been entertaining people for years now and is one of the top actors in the industry. Would you like to know more about this incredible man? Then you should check out this article which goes over the life of the Fresh Prince and how he rose to fame. Not many people know that Will Smith started his career by creating rap music and was the first to be awarded a Grammy in the rap category. He started his acting career later than you think but still rose to be one of the best in the industry. 

Will Smith has been through some ups and downs, making him more relatable and why he is so loved worldwide. So if you want to learn more about the Fresh Prince, check out this article!

Willard Carroll Smith was born on September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Caroline, was a school board administrator who taught Smith early on to read and write. His father, Willard, was a U.S. Air Force veteran and worked as a refrigerator engineer after that eventually owning his own business. Smith grew up in a good neighborhood with his three siblings, Pamela, Harry, and Ellen.

Will Smith went to Overbrook High School, where he continued to rap and was quickly one of the most popular kids, not because of what he did but because of his personality, which really made him stand out. One thing that made Smith's rap music different was that he never used curse words like many rap groups were doing at the time. 

Will Smith got his nickname, The Fresh Prince, in high school since he was a laid-back guy that everyone liked, and it stuck with him. Smith's rapping career started gaining traction when he was in high school. While he was in high school, Smith met Jeffrey Townes, who went by the name DJ Jazzy Jeff. 

Will Smith and Jeffrey Townes became one of the biggest rapping duos during the 80s and were praised by almost everyone since their music didn't promote violence and gave people a different outlook on how they viewed rap music. 

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince were able to win another Grammy with their hit single "Summertime," which was released in 1991 and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1992. This was the second Grammy that the duo would win and the last since the two started heading in different directions. 

Will Smith was not financially set, even though he was one of the leading rappers in the industry. The problem was that Smith was buying everything that he thought was cool and wasn't thinking about the future since he thought that the money would just keep flowing in. But unfortunately, Smith hit a wall, was thousands of dollars in debt, and thought his career was over.

Will Smith really made The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air one of the top shows in America that aired from 1990 to 1996. He even wrote the song "Yo Home To Bel-Air" for the main theme song, which has since become an iconic theme song. DJ Jazzy Jeff even made a couple of appearances on the show as Will's friend, Jazz, and got some credit for being one of the creators of the theme song. 

When Will Smith first started acting, he didn't have the best confidence, but The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air changed that as it showed him that he was a great actor and led him to want more from his acting career. Smith was very thankful about being a part of the show, but he started to ask his agent if he would be able to try and get him some Hollywood roles. 

Will Smith's first major film role was in the movie Six Degrees of Separation, which came out in 1993 and starred Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland. This was the perfect film to show how serious Smith was about acting and was the first film that put him in the spotlight besides being on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. 

A film that boosted Will Smith to superstar status was the film Bad Boys, which was released in 1995 and was directed by Michael Bay. Smith starred alongside Martin Lawrence who ended up making the perfect duo in the film and was the reason why the film was at the top of the box office charts. 

Will Smith started getting role after role in the 90s and became one of the highest-grossing actors at the time. Another great film that he starred in is Independence Day, which was released in 1996 and was even bigger than his last film. Everyone in the world now knew of Smith's name and his amazing acting skills. 

Will Smith was an extremely busy man during the mid-90s as almost every year he was releasing a blockbuster film. His dreams were finally coming true, and he was cast in several of the top Hollywood films during that time period. In 1997, Smith starred in the film Men In Black and even created the theme song for the film as well. 

Will Smith met Jada Koren Pinkett when she was auditioning for a small role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and he instantly knew that she was going to be someone special in his life. After dating for a couple of years, the couple decided to get married in 1997 and even had two children several years later. 

Since Will Smith was being showered with good fortune, he did something that he always wanted to do and made his own solo album which was titled Big Willie Style. The album was released in 1997 and featured the songs, "Miami" and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It." 

Will Smith wanted to take a more serious role and decided to work on the film Enemy of the State, which was released in 1998 and was directed by Tony Scott. Gene Hackman stars alongside Smith in this serious drama that ended up doing pretty well at the box office, making around $250 million. 

Will Smith was at it again in 1998 in the film Wild Wild West, which was supposed to be another great film at the box office but ended up bombing, which Smith ended up regretting. Smith was offered the role of Neo in The Matrix but turned it down because he thought that the Western film would do much better; unfortunately, he was wrong. 

Will Smith's second solo album was released in 1999 and was titled Willennium, which featured the song "Wild Wild West." Smith collaborated with DJ Jazzy Jeff on a couple of songs since he knew that they had good chemistry together. 

One of Will Smith's best performances in a film was in Ali, which was released in 2001 and was directed by Michael Mann, who wanted to make a film about the famous heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali. Smith was the perfect choice for the role as he had a lot of respect for the legendary boxer and even met with him before filming so that he could represent him as best as he could. 

In 2002, Will Smith released his third solo album that was titled Born To Reign, which didn't live up to the hype as many people thought that the album was not as good as his previous ones. This was another album that featured a song from one of Smith's films which is titled "Black Suits Comin," and was featured in the film Men In Black 2. 

Since the creators of Men In Black saw how popular the film was, they decided to make a sequel that would again star Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Men In Black 2 was released in 2002 and was quickly as popular as the first but couldn't bring in the same amount.

Following the trend of making sequels, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence decided to work on the film Bad Boys II, which ended up being even more popular than the first and even made more money at the box office. This was due to the popularity of both the actors and the quality of the first film; Michael Bay even wanted to work with the duo again. 

In 2004, Will Smith decided to go with a role that he wouldn't typically do and starred in the film I, Robot, which was directed by Alex Proyas. This was one of the first science fiction films that Smith starred in and was the start of many since he enjoyed the genre so much. I, Robot was set in the future and was about a world that was being taken over by intelligent robots.

Will Smith has three children, his son Willard (Trey) was born in 1992 when Smith was married to his first wife, Sheree Zampino, and his two other children, Jaden and Willow, are with his current wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith loves his family very much as they are one of the few Hollywood families that actually get along and are always seen together. 

Not too many people know that one of Will Smith's biggest passions is playing the game of chess. Ever since he was taught to play chess by his father, Smith fell in love with the game and even taught it to all of his own children. 

Will Smith took a different direction in film and tried something new by voice acting in the animated movie Shark Tale, which did extremely well in the theaters and was the perfect film to introduce Smith to the genre. Shark Tale was full of notable actors and actresses such as Robert De Niro, Renée Zellweger, Angelina Jolie, and Jack Black. 

Will Smith's last album that he released is titled Lost and Found which came out in 2005. Several people were surprised that the album was pretty good as the last one that he released just didn't sound right, but it seems that Smith was thinking in the right direction when he was producing this album. The album reached number six on the US Billboard 200 and was the third best-selling album that he created. 

Besides acting, Will Smith loves to be behind the camera and has produced a couple of movies that he has also starred in, such as Hitch, Pursuit of Happyness, and Hancock. Smith enjoys being in control of the scene and loves how he can change the scene to make it fit better. 

Pursuit of Happyness is one of Will's best performances that he has given us on the big screen and proves that this actor is one of the best in the industry. What made this movie special is that it was the first time that Will and Jaden Smith worked on a film together, and what better way than to have them as father and son in the story.

I Am Legend was another fantastic film that Will Smith starred in and was the most anticipated movie of 2007. The film was based on the novel I Am Legend which was written by Richard Matheson in 1954, and the reason why so many people knew about the story and wanted to see the film adaption. The film lived up to the novel and was able to bring in around $550 million at the box office.

Before superhero movies were popular, Will Smith was in the film Hancock and starred as the main character in the movie who had superhuman powers. The film was released in 2008 and was based on the comic book series Hancock. Smith fit the role perfectly and looked very similar to the comic book character. 

Will Smith took a little break from acting and spent that time with his friends, which whom he has a strong relationship with, but it wasn't too long before Smith returned to the big screen and started working on Men In Black 3. The film was released in 2012 and ended up being another successful film for the franchise, which was pretty surprising since it had been so many years.

Will and Jaden Smith starred in another film together as father and son since they saw how well Pursuit of Happyness did, which was titled After Earth. The film was released in 2013 and was directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, who is known for his legendary movies. The film ended up making around $245 million in total but is considered to be a box office flop.

At first, Will was included in the script for the film Independence Day: Resurgence which was the sequel to Independence Day. When Smith heard about this, he was on board and was excited about being in the film and reprising his role but not long after showing interest, the writers changed up the plot to be more about the next generation, which made his character unnecessary

In 2015, Will Smith and Margot Robbie starred in the film Focus, which was another great film that Smith added to his career and one of the first times Robbie was put in the spotlight. The film is about a con artist who is portrayed by Smith, that starts teaching Robbie's character while falling in love with her at the same time. 

Since Will Smith already had experience with portraying a superhero, DC Universe decided to ask him if he wanted to be a part of the Suicide Squad. Smith gladly accepted and portrayed Deadshot, who was one of the supervillains that were part of the group. This would be the second time that Smith and Margot Robbie starred in a film together. 

Will Smith has an impressive career that he has worked hard for over the years; he is one of the few African Americans to be nominated for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award, but has yet to capture the title of EGOT holder. 

In 2017, Will Smith decided to work with Netflix on the film Bright, which is about an alternate world that was habitable by different alien races, and Smith was one of the officers that were partnered with an alien. The film is one of the most-watched on Netflix, but many people agree that it is not the best performance that they have seen from Smith. 

Something that most people didn't see coming was Will Smith playing the Genie in Disney's live-action film, Aladdin. The film was released in 2019, and many people were very excited about this live-action reboot of the animated movie from 1992. 

Spies in Disguise was Will Smith's next film that he voice acted in, which was released in 2019 and was another animated film that did pretty well in theaters and was liked by many. Smith was paired with several talented actors and actresses in this animated film such as Tom Holland, Rashida Jones, and Ben Mendelsohn. 

In 2020, Bad Boys For Life was released, which featured the original actors from the previous films, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The film did pretty well in theaters since everyone wanted to have a little taste of nostalgia, and this was the perfect film that blended the old with the new. 

While Will Smith was growing up, a significant figure in his life was his mother, who helped him with his schooling. Before Smith got into rapping, he was a total bookworm and wanted to be either a mathematician or a scientist. Even when Smith was into rapping, he had some of the best grades in his class and thought about getting a college degree. 

Will Smith was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and had the pleasure to perform at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which was hosted in Russia. Smith, along with Nicky Jam and Era Istrefi, performed the song "Live It Up". Smith was excited about this as he is a big soccer fan and always wanted to perform in front of sports fans. 

Not many people know that Will Smith is the only actor to accumulate $100 million per film by starring in eight movies in a row that occurred through the early 2000s. From 2002 to 2008, Smith had a film that was released every year, and most of them did very well in the theaters. 

Another prominent figure in Will Smith's life was his father, who wasn't the best towards him and his family when he was younger but ended up appreciating what his son was able to accomplish later on in life. Smith admitted that his father would sometimes abuse his mother, and he was mad that he didn't do anything about it at the time but ultimately forgave him as he was his father in the end.

The last film that Will Smith starred in was King Richard which was released in 2021 and is about Richard Williams, who is the father of Venus and Serena Williams. Although the film didn't perform too well being that it was released during the pandemic, critics loved the film and agreed that it was one of Smith's best performances. 

Will Smith started his own YouTube channel in 2018 and since then, has gained almost 10 million subscribers and has focused on making some of the most entertaining videos about him and his family adventures. There aren't many actors that are out there making YouTube videos, which really shows how unique Will Smith is. 

Something that everyone didn't expect to happen at the 94th Academy Awards show is Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face because he told a joke about his wife, which she didn't like. There was a lot of controversy about the situation, which was initially thought of as a joke, but as the situation escalated, people realized that it was all too real. 

Although Will Smith risked everything for love, he feels that he was wrong about slapping Chris Rock and wishes that he went about it in a different way. The love for the couple is very strong and you can see it the night that Smith slapped Chris Rock. Smith has apologized for the incident and hopes that his career is not ruined because of a little mistake that he made. 

Will Smith has had a tremendous career, from being just your local rapper that played at house parties to being one of the most prominent actors in Hollywood. Smith has gone through many ups and downs, which makes him relatable. Smith was broke at one point in his life, and it was the biggest lesson that life gave him and the reason why he cherishes every moment with his family.