Interviewee: Will Smith
Interviewers: Rickie & Melvin of the Kiss 100 Breakfast Team
Date: July 1, 2008

Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. was born on September 26, 1968. He is of African-American and Native American heritage. Born to parents, Willard and Caroline, Will grew up in Philadelphia and got his nickname Fresh Prince because he could easily charm his way out of trouble. He studied at Overbrook High School and was a bright student. Will signed up with the distinguished Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia.

After meeting Jeff Townes, Will Smith partnered with him and they became known as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The Fresh Prince admits that he went a little wayward in his early 20’s and he squandered most of his earnings which eventually drove him to near bankruptcy. Will learned and rebounded from that mistake and in 1990, he became known as television’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Fresh Prince went on for 6 years and established Will’s bankability as a comedian. The show is also where Will met wife, Jada Pinkett, when she auditioned for the role of his girlfriend. Will and Jada have two children, Jayden and Willow; and is also father to Trey, his son from first wife, Sheree.

In the June 23, 2008 episode of CBS’ show, Late Night with David Letterman, aside from promoting his new movie, Hancock, Will candidly talked about his family as he exchanged funny antics with Letterman. Will gave the audience a glimpse of himself as a father. He shared that his 15-year old son was a focused person who is into football. Will also told Letterman that his daughter, Willow, was in the movie The American Girl, which went head-on with the opening of Hancock.

Will Smith’s brand of humor has spawned numerous box office and critical successes for him. In 1993, he appeared in the movie Six Degrees of Separation with Donald Sutherland, Sir Ian Mckellen, and Stockard Channing. The movie was based on the play written by John Guare which tells the story of a con man in the 80’s who convinced people that he was the son of Sydney Poitier. One of Will’s most popular movies is Bad Boys (with Martin Lawrence) which was released in 1995. This commercial success was followed by a string of movies, all of which were box office hits like the Men In Black series, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happyness (with son, Jayden), and I am Legend (with daughter, Willow).

For his role in the hit film Independence Day, Will patterned his character after his favorite big screen hero, Harrison Ford.

The actor enjoys playing chess, is a big fan of professional wrestling, and is fluent in Spanish. Will’s 2007 total earnings are estimated at $31 million.