William Carroll Smith Jr. is a well-known American actor, director and hip-hop artist. Grammy Award Winner. In 2008, Smith topped the list of the highest paid Hollywood artists.
Biography
The future artist was born in September 1968 on the twenty-fifth in the American city of Philadelphia. There were no hereditary actors or singers in his family. Will's mother worked as a simple teacher at school, and Will Sr. was a production engineer. When Will Jr. was thirteen, his parents decided to break up. They lived separately for a long time, but officially divorced only in 2000.
Professional career
Despite the fact that Smith is known to most as an actor, he began his path to fame with music. In the early eighties, he met street musician Jeff Towns, with whom he later created a hip-hop duo. Unusual music and extravagant manner of performance quickly fell in love with the public. The duo, known as Jeffy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, quickly went beyond street performances. By the end of the eighties, the group received the prestigious Grammy Music Award, this was the first award that was issued for rap performance.
In 1990, the NBC channel offers Will Smith work in the television series "Prince of Beverly Hills." In fact, Smith played himself, "The Prince" is his musical pseudonym, which he used to play music on the street. Since Will has already managed to grow fans and make himself known throughout the music industry, the series turned out to be extremely successful. The broadcast went on for six years, during which 148 episodes of twenty-four minutes were released.
For six years in the project, Will also tried himself on the big screen. Smith's first serious work was the crime drama "Go with the Flow, " which was released in 1992. The following year, he took part in two large-scale projects at once, but Smith's direct participation was limited to episodic roles.
In 1995, the crime comedy Bad Boys saw the light of day. The main roles in the project were played by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The story of two black policemen who are completely different from each other, but by the will of fate became partners, brought huge success to little-known Hollywood actors. The picture itself also became incredibly gross: with a modest budget of nineteen million dollars at the box office, she collected more than 140 million. American tabloids, including Orange News, recognized the newly-minted police duo as the best in cinema.
In addition to working in films, Smith also took part in the dubbing of the animated series "Fairy Tales for Children", where for five years he was the voice of one of Pinocchio's most striking characters. And in 1996, another super-popular film "Independence Day" appeared on the screens, a fantastic drama about an invasion of aliens raised eight hundred million dollars at the box office.
In 1997, the first part of the cult series "Men in Black" was released. Will Smith's duet with Tommy Lee Jones instantly won the hearts of all lovers of science fiction and stories about aliens. The comedy thriller with elements of fiction has become one of the most popular and widely discussed films of recent years. The box office of the painting amounted to five hundred million dollars.
The beginning of the zero years in Smith's career was indicated by the feature film “The Legend of Bagher Vance”. The events of the new picture unfold in the 1920s in the United States, in the midst of the Great Depression. The film did not find the proper response in the hearts of viewers and was left without any film awards. Fees under the budget of eighty million amounted to only half of the money spent.
Then two sequels followed at once: in 2002 the film “Men in Black 2” was released, and the following year the fans were pleased with a couple of black cops from the movie “Bad Guys”. Both films, as expected, again became extremely successful.
In 2006, Smith decided to experiment. In the melodrama "Pursuit of Happiness", he starred with his son Jaden. The first experience in the movie, it is worth noting, was more than successful, the audience liked the picture, and the fees exceeded the budget six times.
The second appearance on the screen with his son took place in 2013 when the picture "After the Common Era" saw the light of day. The repeated experience was truly a failure, the game of the matured Jaden was completely unimpressed and even upset the audience. The film also won the Golden Raspberry Award twice. The "shameful" award was awarded in the nomination "worst male role in the second plan", as well as in the nomination "worst screen combination."
To date, Will Smith has over thirty major roles. He also recorded and released four music albums. In 2020, the sequel to the legendary black police saga is being prepared for premiere. The new film is called "Bad Guys Forever."
2018 World Cup in Russia
Will Smith is a football fan and enjoyed participating in all the events of the 2018 World Cup. He starred in the video for the song Live it Up, which actually became the championship anthem. Smith performed one of the verses of the song. He also spoke at the closing ceremony of the World Cup, which took place at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
