4idols Will Smith

Birth name: Willard Christopher Smith Jr.
Nickname: Fresh Prince
Height: 6' 1½" (1.87 m)
Birthday: 1968-09-25
Birthplace: Philiadelphia, PA
Weight: 210 lbs
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Will Smith was born and raised in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of four children. He is a graduate of Overbrook High School. He received an 800 on his SAT Verbal.

Will Smith started as the vocalist of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer. The duo was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime." They gained critical acclaim for winning the first ever Grammy in the Rap category (1988).

Will Smith was a charismatic and energetic performer but he was nearing bankruptcy when in 1990, the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. The show was successful and ran for six seasons and helped revitalize his career.

Although Will Smith made a notable dramatic film debut in Six Degrees of Separation (in which he played totally against type as a gay con man) while still appearing in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith's film career took off with his role in Bad Boys (1995) along with co-star Martin Lawrence.

After The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended in 1996, Smith began a successful solo music career while simultaneously starring in a series of films. The first two films were hugely successful summer blockbusters: Independence Day (1996), in which he played a fearless and confident fighter pilot, and Men in Black (1997), where he played the comic and confident Agent J against Tommy Lee Jones's deadpan Agent K. Smith's acting in Men in Black won critical praise. The two films established Smith's commercial reputation as a bankable star whose appeal across age, race, and gender lines could "open" a film at the box office. Because his movies usually open during the July 4th weekend, many people have come to call a July 4th weekend in which Will Smith stars in a movie "Big Willie Weekend."

Lead roles in Enemy of the State, Wild Wild West, Ali, and Men in Black II. Bad Boys II raked in over 40 million in its first weekend, and Smith was again the king of the box office. But things didn't slow down from there. 2004 saw the one-two punch of I, Robot and Shark Tale, a pair of flicks that combined made over 300 million. His most recent film is 2005's Hitch. Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali.

Will Smith also released a string of hit singles, often associated with his most recent film, throughout the late 1990s. The most notable of these were his #1 hit theme song "Men in Black," the #1 hit "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (which made jiggy a catchphrase for a while in 1998), and "Just the Two of Us," an affecting message to his young son. His first two solo albums went platinum, but his third, on Columbia Records, was a sales disappointment compared to his past efforts, and after a quick Greatest Hits release that was almost not advertised at all, he was dropped by the label. He signed a recording contract with Interscope Records and released the successful Lost and Found in 2005. The album was propelled solely on the smash hit single, "Switch," which appealed to the mainstream media ala "Summertime." The single stayed atop the charts for months and returned Smith to the forefront of Hip Hop. Will Smith has over 25 million in total album sales.

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