60 Fun Facts About Will Smith

In which US city was Will Smith born?

Philadelphia's west side is where he grew up, and he later wrote that childhood into the lyrics of the Fresh Prince theme song, which he performed himself.

What first name is Will Smith's 'Will' short for?

Willard, not William: he was named Willard Carroll Smith after his father and passed the name on to his eldest son, who goes by Trey.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which launched Will Smith's acting career in 1990, aired on which network?

NBC built the show around him at a moment when he was broke and being chased by the IRS.

Who was Will Smith's DJ and producer in his hip-hop duo?

DJ Jazzy Jeff, born Jeffrey Townes, followed his partner into television too: he produced the Fresh Prince theme song that Smith wrote and rapped.

Which song by Will Smith's hip-hop duo won the first-ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance?

Parents Just Don't Understand won in 1989, but Smith stayed away from the ceremony in protest because the new rap award was not going to be shown on television.

Will Smith's debut single, 'Girls Ain't Nothing but Trouble', sampled which TV show's theme song?

I Dream of Jeannie's theme runs through the 1986 single, which had been a radio hit for about a month before Smith even graduated from high school.

Roughly how big was the tax debt the IRS assessed against Will Smith around 1990?

$2.8 million was the bill after he spent freely and underpaid his income taxes; the IRS took many of his possessions and garnished his income.

Which 1997 solo album was Will Smith's debut and went nine times platinum?

Big Willie Style was his first album in four years, after he had put music aside for film and television, and it reached the top ten in both the US and the UK.

Which single gave Will Smith his first Billboard Hot 100 number one, in 1998?

Gettin' Jiggy wit It spent three weeks at number one; his Men in Black theme had never entered the Hot 100 because it was not sold as a single in the US.

Will Smith famously turned down which role, which went to Keanu Reeves?

Neo in The Matrix went to Reeves after Smith doubted the effects-heavy pitch could work on screen; he later said Reeves played the part better than he would have.

Which Christopher Nolan film did Will Smith turn down because he did not understand the story?

Inception was offered to him first, he revealed in 2025, but he 'didn't get it'; the lead went to Leonardo DiCaprio, and Smith said the miss still hurts.

Will Smith co-starred with Martin Lawrence in which 1995 action film?

Bad Boys was Michael Bay's first feature; made for about $20 million, it grossed $141 million and grew into a four-film series.

Which Miami narcotics detective does Will Smith play opposite Martin Lawrence in four action films?

Mike Lowrey gets a stand-in in the first film: the captain orders his partner, family man Marcus Burnett, to impersonate him so a murder witness will keep talking.

In Independence Day, what military role does Will Smith's Captain Steven Hiller hold?

Marine fighter pilot Hiller dreams of becoming an astronaut and gets to space the hard way: he volunteers to fly a captured alien craft up to the mothership.

Who plays Agent K opposite Will Smith's Agent J in Men in Black?

Tommy Lee Jones was the director's choice: Barry Sonnenfeld says the studio wanted Clint Eastwood, who reportedly passed, and that he asked for Jones instead.

Which company bought the publisher of The Men in Black, the comic behind Will Smith's film?

Marvel Comics bought Malibu, whose Aircel imprint had published Lowell Cunningham's series in 1990, so the comic was a Marvel title by the time the film came out.

Which Will Smith film won five Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture?

Wild Wild West pitted Smith's government agent against a giant mechanical spider, and he has since called the film a thorn in his side.

In Enemy of the State, Will Smith plays a man in which profession?

Labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean becomes the target of a covert surveillance operation after he is unknowingly handed evidence of a political assassination.

In which 1993 film does Will Smith play a con man who charms wealthy New Yorkers?

Six Degrees of Separation gave him his first major film role; its plot drew on David Hampton, a real con man who talked his way into Manhattan homes in the 1980s.

Which boxer did Will Smith portray in a 2001 Michael Mann biopic?

Muhammad Ali's decade from beating Sonny Liston to the Rumble in the Jungle fills the film; Smith gained weight and trained like a boxer, and earned his first Oscar nomination.

In Hitch, what does Will Smith's character do for a living?

Hitch coaches men on dating as New York's secretive 'date doctor', only to find his own methods fail on the gossip columnist he falls for.

Which real person did Will Smith play in The Pursuit of Happyness?

Chris Gardner, the salesman who went from homelessness to a brokerage career, has a cameo in the final scene, walking past Smith and his on-screen son.

In The Pursuit of Happyness, what does Will Smith's character solve in a taxi to impress a manager?

A Rubik's Cube solved during a shared cab ride wins him the manager's attention, but he then has to bolt without paying the fare.

Which of Will Smith's children played his son in The Pursuit of Happyness?

Jaden made his film debut in the role, and his father later came up with the story for After Earth, in which the two played father and son again.

What breed is Sam, the dog who keeps Will Smith's Robert Neville company in I Am Legend?

German Shepherd Sam, played by two dogs named Abbey and Kona, is a parting gift from Neville's young daughter and becomes his only companion in deserted Manhattan.

Which of Will Smith's children appeared as his daughter in I Am Legend?

Willow made her film debut as Marley in the film's flashbacks, and three years later scored a hit single of her own with 'Whip My Hair'.

Who plays Mary, the wife of the PR man Will Smith's superhero rescues in Hancock?

Charlize Theron's Mary turns out to share Hancock's powers, and the two become more mortal the closer they stay to each other.

Which DC villain did Will Smith play in Suicide Squad (2016)?

Deadshot was the part Smith said he picked over a return in Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel that was in production at the same time.

In Concussion, Will Smith plays the doctor who first identified which condition in American football players?

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy was known in boxers before Bennet Omalu found it in former Steeler Mike Webster; Smith hesitated over the film until he met him.

Which Will Smith film became his first to gross over $1 billion worldwide?

Aladdin overtook Independence Day as his biggest hit; Smith said he was 'terrified' of following Robin Williams as the Genie before making the role his own.

In Gemini Man (2019), Will Smith's assassin faces off against whom?

A younger clone of himself hunts Smith's ageing assassin; the script sat unmade for about twenty years because the effects needed to create the double were not ready.

For which film did Will Smith win the Academy Award for Best Actor?

King Richard cast him as Richard Williams, the father who drew up a plan to make Venus and Serena tennis champions before they were even born.

Which film did Chris Rock joke about just before Will Smith slapped him?

G.I. Jane was the punchline: Rock said he couldn't wait to see Jada Pinkett Smith in a sequel, a dig at her shaved head, which is the result of alopecia.

For how many years did the Academy ban Will Smith from the Oscars and its events after the slap?

10 years is the ban from the Oscars and every other Academy event; Smith had already resigned his membership a week before it was announced.

Who was the first Black actor to win the Best Actor Oscar, decades before Will Smith became the fifth?

Sidney Poitier won for Lilies of the Field, and nearly four decades passed before Denzel Washington became the second.

Which streaming service released Will Smith's 2022 slavery drama Emancipation?

Apple TV+ released it after Smith and director Antoine Fuqua pulled the shoot out of Georgia in protest at the state's new voting law.

Will Smith's 2017 Netflix fantasy Bright reunited him with which Suicide Squad director?

David Ayer had directed him the year before; Bright was Netflix's most expensive film up to then, and the service ordered a sequel the same month it came out.

How did Will Smith celebrate his 50th birthday in 2018?

Bungee jumping at the Grand Canyon: he leapt from a helicopter after the YouTubers Yes Theory challenged him, and used the jump to raise money for Global Citizen.

Who was Will Smith's first wife, and mother of his son Trey?

Sheree Zampino married him in 1992 and they divorced three years later; their son Trey went on to appear in the video for his father's song 'Just the Two of Us'.

Which actress won the Fresh Prince role of Will's girlfriend Lisa, for which Jada Pinkett auditioned when the couple met?

Nia Long got the part after Pinkett was judged too short to play opposite Smith at the 1994 audition; the two began dating the following year.

By what stage name is rapper Sandra Denton, whom Will Smith says he once took on a single date, better known?

Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa is Sandra Denton; in 2023 Smith called their one date in the late 1980s the most terrified he had ever been.

Who co-wrote Will Smith's 2021 memoir, Will?

Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, helped him write a book that goes back to childhood, with Smith describing how he watched his father punch his mother.

Will Smith entered Guinness World Records in 2005 by attending three of what in a single day?

Film premieres for Hitch took him to Manchester, Birmingham and London in one snowy day, a dash that put him in the record book.

Will Smith performed the official song at the closing ceremony of which event in 2018?

The FIFA World Cup in Russia closed with Smith performing its official song, 'Live It Up', before the final, at a tournament his own country had failed to qualify for.

Will Smith's National Geographic series follows his journey between which two points?

The South Pole and the North Pole bookend the trek; on its Amazon leg in Ecuador, Smith joined the expedition that identified a new species, the northern green anaconda.

Will Smith and Jay-Z earned 2010 Tony nominations as producers of which Broadway musical?

Fela! went in with eleven nominations, level with La Cage aux Folles for the most that season, yet lost Best Musical to Memphis.

Will Smith received an Emmy nomination in 2021 as a producer of which series?

Cobra Kai reached him through the 2010 Karate Kid remake, which his company Overbrook produced; its executives then joined the sequel series.

What was the title of Will Smith's 2025 studio album, his first in 20 years?

Based on a True Story opens with a track that tackles the Oscars slap head-on; 'You Can Make It' and 'Beautiful Scars' are two of the singles among its 14 songs.

Which music legend made Will Smith audition on the spot at a party?

Quincy Jones sprang it on him at a party at his home, with the head of the network watching, and had lawyers draw up his Fresh Prince contract that same night.

Besides Will Smith, which Fresh Prince actor appeared in every single episode?

James Avery was Uncle Phil for all six seasons, and in the show's early years he was also the voice of the villain Shredder in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Carlton's Fresh Prince dance is set to which song?

It's Not Unusual, the Tom Jones hit, became the soundtrack to 'the Carlton', a dance Alfonso Ribeiro says he pieced together from Courteney Cox in a Bruce Springsteen video and an Eddie Murphy routine.

Which streaming service released Bel-Air, the dramatic 2022 reimagining of The Fresh Prince?

Peacock's drama grew out of a mock trailer that fan Morgan Cooper posted on YouTube in 2019, which Smith liked enough to help turn into a series.

What was the profession of Will Smith's father?

A refrigeration engineer with his own company, his father once tore down a brick wall at the shop and made young Will and his brother rebuild it, a lesson Smith has retold ever since.

How did Will Smith first meet his future hip-hop collaborator in 1985?

At a house party a few doors away from Smith's home, the DJ's hype man failed to show, so Smith filled in and the two clicked at once.

Which Isaac Asimov book lent its title to Will Smith's 2004 science-fiction hit?

I, Robot takes Asimov's title and his Three Laws of Robotics, but its murder plot began as an unrelated script called Hardwired that was reworked to fit.

Which British DJ, then an A&R man, signed Will Smith's rap duo to the UK label Champion Records in 1986?

Paul Oakenfold. Before he became a star of trance and British club culture he scouted hip-hop for the label, and his biography calls Will Smith's duo his first signing.

Which 1991 single gave Will Smith's rap duo its highest US chart placing and a second Grammy?

Summertime. Smith drops his usual voice into a low, relaxed flow often likened to Rakim's, rapped over the melody of Kool & the Gang's instrumental 'Summer Madness'.

Men in Black opened in US cinemas in time for which 1997 holiday?

Fourth of July. Independence Day had owned the same holiday a year earlier, and with a second hit there the Los Angeles Times wrote that Will Smith was 'quickly becoming the July Fourth pinup boy'.

In The Legend of Bagger Vance, Will Smith's mysterious title character offers his services as what?

Golf caddie. Robert Redford directed him as a stranger who walks out of the night to carry the clubs of a war-broken champion, played by Matt Damon, and coax back his swing.

Will Smith's 1998 single 'Just the Two of Us' reworks a love song first sung by which soul star?

Bill Withers. His original with saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. is about a couple; Smith turned it into a father's promises to his young son Trey, who appears in the video.