Willard Carroll "Will" Smith Jr. is a widely known American actor, producer, rapper and songwriter. He was born on September 15, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Caroline, a school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr. who was a refrigeration engineer. He was raised baptist. Smith attended Overbrook High School. What is interesting, he could have studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology but he said he never wanted to apply to college because he "wanted to rap".
Smith started his recording career as The Fresh Prince in the hip hop band DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. They performed humorous songs and became very famous. They released 3 albums with hits like "Parents Just Don't Understand", "Rock the House" or "Girls Ain't Nothing But Troubles". In 1998 the group won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category.
What could go wrong? - you may ask. Well, in the years 1998-1999 Smith spent his money so freely that in 1990 he was almost a bankrupt. With some help came the NBC television network - he was to play in a sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". This is how his acting career started. Will Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world", studying box office successes' common characteristics.
Smith didn't give up his music career, with the group he released another album with the hit "Summertime" for which they got the second in their career Grammy award. At that time many of Hollywood producers started to offer him roles in their movies. His first major roles were in the drama "Six Degrees of Separation" from 1993 and the action film "Bad Boys" from 1995.
In 1996 Smith starred in "Independence Day" - a massive blockbuster becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time and bringing a huge popularity to the actor.
In his acting career he starred in more than 20 movies, he was also a producer of many of them. One of the best are: "The Pursuit of Happyness","Ali", "I Am Legend" and "Seven Pounds", which is my favorite. Personally, I consider will Smith as a great actor because of his acting skills, his sensitivity in playing and the perfect choose of the films he plays in - in my opinion he plays only in those ones that he knows that will be good.
Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Wards and two Academy Awards and honestly... I don't know why he doesn't have an Oscar yet!
In April 2007 "Newsweek" called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally. He has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by "Forbes". As of 2016, his films have grossed $7.5 billion at the global box office. Even president Obama admitted that a biographical movie about him was ever made, he would like Will Smith to play his role. He also spoke to Smith about the possibility of making a movie about the election of 2008.
It may not be a surprise, but Will Smith is my favorite actor. I watch all of his movies and they never dissappointed me. If you are also interested, his newest one, "Collateral Beauty" is now in cinemas. :)
Task: Think about your favorite actor/actress and write a letter to a friend in which you will describe that person.
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