Will Smith's 58th Birthday Countdown

Will Smith Timeline

About Will Smith

Smith went from Grammy-winning rapper to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to one of the biggest movie stars of his era with Men in Black and Independence Day, winning the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard in 2022.

The ten-minute audition at Quincy Jones's party

Smith won the first-ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance as a teenager, spent the money just as fast, and by 1989 was deep in debt to the IRS. Hanging around The Arsenio Hall Show, he met music executive Benny Medina, who took him to Quincy Jones's birthday party. Jones had him audition on the spot, a ten-minute improvised read in front of NBC's Brandon Tartikoff, then called for the lawyers that night. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran six seasons.

Mr. Fourth of July

Independence Day was the highest-grossing film in the world in 1996, and Smith spent the next decade owning summer. From Men in Black II through Hancock, he starred in eight consecutive films that each topped $100 million at the U.S. box office, a streak no other actor has matched. In 2022 the blockbuster king added the industry's biggest individual honor, winning the Best Actor Oscar for playing Richard Williams in King Richard.

Storytellers of tomorrow

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith founded the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation in 1996, and its mission is unusually specific: uplift the next generation of storytellers by connecting young people with mentors and real careers in entertainment. Its grantmaking has stayed loyal to the couple's hometowns, supporting Overbrook High School, Smith's own alma mater in West Philadelphia, and the Baltimore School for the Arts, where Jada studied.

Quick facts

• Born September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Won the first-ever Grammy for Best Rap Performance (1989)
• Starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for six seasons
• Only actor with eight consecutive $100 million films at the U.S. box office
• Independence Day was the world's highest-grossing film of 1996
• Won the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard (2022)

Will Smith's biggest films