Willard Christopher Smith Jr., widely known as Will Smith, was born and raised in West Philadelphia, just like what the theme song of the famous sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air says. He was born on September 15, 1968, in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to his mother, Caroline Bright, and his father, Willard C. Smith Sr. Smith began rapping at the age of 12 in his neighborhood, which is where he gained the nickname “Prince” from the people because of his charming personality. Will Smith’s career started in the year 1984, after meeting a DJ at a party who then became his friend. He was launched as a part of a rapper duo with Jeff Townes, at the age of 16. They were referred to as DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. They produced raps that …show more content…
In the year 1990, NBC signed him to be the lead star in the famous sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The sitcom did not stray away from his rapper persona. It ran for a total of six seasons. Due to the success of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith was also crossing over into the field of movies. He starred in different genres of movies. In 1995, the success of his movie, Bad Boys, with co-star Martin Lawrence, gave way for him to Hollywood. Smith’s performance in the 2001 biopic Ali, based on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, garnered him his first Academy Award and Oscar nomination for Best Actor; in 2006 The Pursuit of Happyness got him his second nomination for an Academy Award and an Oscar for his performance. Smith is also known for his movies Independence Day (1996), Men In Black (1997), Men In Black II (2002), Bad Boys II (2003), I, Robot (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Men in Black 3 (2012), After Earth (2012), and Focus (2015). Just recently, Smith starred in the drama movie Concussion, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Dr. Bennet Omalu who fought to raise awareness about head trauma in NFL players. He has been nominated many times for his performance in these movies, and has won multiple