Will Smith | Biography | Born in 1970, Fresh Prince in 1990 to Action Star & A-List Celeb in 2020

On television, he was the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a streetwise Philadelphian sent to live with wealthy relatives in California. In real life, he was Will Smith, a streetwise Philadelphian who has by virtue of hard work and infectious charm, found stardom and wealth in Los Angeles, reaching the top level of A-list super stardom. Before he made it as a solidified movie star, he released several platinum rap albums and won the first ever Grammy award given in the rap category, all before he was even of legal age to drink. What's going on guys, it's your girl Cara and we were trying something a little new with a biography on the one and only Will Smith. This is our first video in this series, but if you like what you see, please let me know another celebrity's life story you want me to bring you here on Famous Entertainment. If you're new, be sure to subscribe, as always hit that like button and let's get into it. Willard Smith Jr. was born on September 25th, 1968 and raised in Winfield, Pennsylvania, a middle class suburb of West Philadelphia. He was the oldest son and one of four children of a refrigeration engineer and a school board employee. His parents were loving but demanding, the kind who took their children to Mount Rushmore on vacation to prove that education does not end with the classroom. Dad was tough but not tyrannical, Smith told Essence magazine. He kept me in line, he'd get this look that said one more step Will and it'll get ugly. He was an independent businessman, he set up refrigeration in supermarkets, and he always provided for us. He's a steady and positive figure in my life. Mom worked as a school secretary, she's a supervisor now and her thing was education. My folks sent me to a Catholic school because it was the best school in the neighborhood, but I felt some of the priests and nuns were racist. As a teen, Smith attended Overbrook High, a public school in Philadelphia. His teachers there nicknamed him the Prince because they found him so charming. His best subject was mathematics, and he earned good enough grades to be accepted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineering program. But by that time, he was already starting to realize that there might be more opportunity for him to pursue via his natural charm and good looks. I've been Prince for years and years, but about 2 years ago, the DJs in the streets started scratching FRESH, FRESH, this is FRESH, everything was FRESH. So I added the FRESH Prince on to my name. When he was just 12 years old, Smith met Jeffrey Towns at a friend's party. Towns was better known as DJ Jazzy Jeff, and although he was only a few years older than Smith, he had been spinning records at parties for quite some time. Smith was just beginning to rap, calling himself the Fresh Prince, and he and Jazzy Jeff became friends. For some years, they performed in different rap groups, and only occasionally paired up. Then in 1986, their partnership became more serious. Jazzy Jeff said, I worked with 2,000 crews before I found this maniac. There was a click when I worked with him that was missing before. The two friends performed as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. You know, hey, you're pretty good, you're one of the best I heard, maybe you should get with this Jazzy Jeff guy. So Jeff stole one of the jobs I was supposed to have on my block. I was supposed to do a house party on my block for $35, which is about 17 pounds or something like that I guess. Jeff stole my job. I want everybody to know that. Jazzy Jeff had already released an album, so the new duo had little trouble finding a record label. In 1986, they cut their first LP together, Rock The House. Their first single, Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble, did well on the charts. Already famous throughout the Philadelphia region, they found themselves in demand in the rest of the country as well. As the money began to roll in, Smith was able to convince his parents that college could wait. In fact, he earned a million dollars before he turned 20. When you get a large sum of money that young, it's real hard to keep control of yourself. I mean, I was out buying clothes and cars and all that kind of stuff, and it's like you just feel like the money never ends. You feel like it's there forever. And I thought it was there forever, and man, I bought some dumb stuff, man. Rock The House was released in 1987 and sold some 600,000 copies. Major stardom came to Smith the following year with a double LP, He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper, one of the first rap albums to reach platinum status with over a million copies sold. Both albums, but especially the second, offered raps about what the musicians understood best. The day to day troubles of modern teens. The hit single, Parents Just Don't Understand for instance, detailed the nightmares of shopping for school clothes with a mother who was hopelessly out of touch with current styles. The Fresh Prince pleads with his mom to put back the bell-bottom brady bunch trousers. This universal young adult complaint helped find a crossover audience for DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Parents Just Don't Understand won the very first Grammy award given in the category of rap music. 1988, we won an American Music Award, we were so excited and hyped. We hop in the car, we go back to Jeff's house, his mom is cooking a big meal for us Because their subject matter wasn't particularly controversial, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince were afforded greater opportunities to perform their work. Promoters saw less chance for violence at their shows, so they were booked into major concert venues. Even network television executives felt comfortable putting them on the air. Change in mainstream media that they were proactively looking for. We boycotted the 1989 Grammy show, we don't have a problem with the Grammy as an award or the Grammy as an institution, we just had a problem with the 1989 design of the award show. We feel that our music was important enough and is important enough. By 1990, The Fresh Prince had released 3 top selling rap albums and was one of the best known rappers in the nation. But on the flip side, he was broke. He had a mansion near Philadelphia, closets full of designer clothing, a fleet of expensive cars and a jet set lifestyle complete with celebrity friends. When the money ran out and his friends deserted him, Smith realized how foolish he'd been. On top of this, his creditors were closing in and he owed a million in unpaid taxes. Being famous and broke is a shitty combination, cause you still famous and people recognize you but they recognize you while you sitting next to them on the bus. As his popularity as a rapper was diminishing instead of panicking, he set his sights on what he was going to do next. Some Hollywood executives had already noticed Smith's stage presence and his ability to charm an audience. Beginning in 1990, he was invited to audition for small roles on The Cosby Show and A Different World, but he was too nervous to audition. Finally, he met Benny Medina, the head of Warner Brothers Records' black music division. Medina had moved from Watts as a teen to a wealthy Los Angeles neighbourhood, and he thought that his experiences would make a funny situation comedy. Medina and Smith talked the idea over, and then approached producer Quincy Jones about a pilot episode. Jones immediately sensed that a show of that nature starring Will Smith would be a hit. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air made its debut on the national broadcasting company NBC in the fall of 1990. Smith appeared in the starring role as Will, a Philadelphia teen sent to live with his wealthy, refined, and decidedly Republican aunt and uncle in the bougie Bel Air section of Los Angeles. The show found an audience quickly. For Smith, who had never done any acting before, the show was quite a challenge. He told TV Guide, I was a nervous wreck, I was trying so hard. I would memorize the entire script and I'd be lipping everybody's lines while they were talking. When I watched those early episodes, it's disgusting. My performances were horrible." Although 70% of his earnings were being garnered by the IRS for the first few years, things were turning around for Will in his personal life. In 1992, he married his first wife, Cheri Zampino, with whom he had his first son, Willard Smith III, who goes by the name Trey these days. In 1993, on top of this, his acting had improved immensely. Will began trying to broaden his horizons in Hollywood. He sought film work, and has since then appeared in several movies. His most notable dramatic performance came in 1993 with the release of 6 Degrees of Separation, a serious drama in which Smith played a gay con artist trying to fool a couple of white social climbers. After Smith expanded his wings with 6 Degrees of Separation, he was offered more roles in films such as Where the Day Takes You and Made in America. But his first role as an action hero made Hollywood sit up and take notice. Smith co-starred with Martin Lawrence in the comedy thriller Bad Boys. The film was a box office success, and it set the stage for his next film, Independence Day. Independence Day was an action-packed science fiction film with an all-star ensemble cast. It earned more than 100 million dollars in its opening week. Smith became a bonafide action movie star. Smith's life seemed to be perfect, he was a rapper, TV star, husband, father, and a blossoming movie star, but his marriage was on a rocky road. His wife soon asked for a divorce. It was finalized in 1995, and they both share custody of their son Trey. In 1996, Smith decided to leave the Fresh Prince of Bel Air after 6 seasons, even though the show remained successful. The show was translated into more than a dozen languages. Smith's next film was Men in Black. Though it was another sci-fi film, when he was asked by executive producer Steven Spielberg to take the part of Agent J, he told Ebony Mag, you just can't tell Steven Spielberg no. He teamed up with Academy Award winning actor Tommy Lee Jones and made box office history. Men in Black was the number one best-selling movie in 1997, it grossed over 200 million. Will met Jada Pinkett when she auditioned for a role on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was not until years later that they connected romantically. Both considered the other their soulmate, and Will told Ebony Mag, Jada is the first person I've been with willing to accept that it's not always going to be great, but that's okay. The two married on December 31st, 1997. They have two children together, Jaden and Willow. They live in a Hollywood mansion, and although they've had plenty of crazy press over the past few months, they're solidified as Hollywood royalty, and will hopefully continue to entertain us for many years to come. If you want to know more about Will and Jada's family mansion, check out the house tour video we dropped a little earlier this year. Also hit me up with suggestions for who to do next in the comments down below, or on my Instagram, and I'll see you guys all in another video. Bye!