Rapper. Producer. TV legend. Movie star. Is there anything Will Smith can't do? He's won Grammys and been nominated for Oscars. His movies have made billions of dollars. He even came back from near-bankruptcy when he was just a kid. And now, the Fresh Prince is one of the most famous and successful people in the world. But do you know all of the lesser-known Will Smith trivia out there?
In addition to being a great rapper, Smith is a crazy versatile actor. He's a guy who can seemingly do any kind of movie. Like action movies? Try Bad Boys, Enemy of the State, and Independence Day. Prefer action comedies? How about Men in Black, MIIB, and Hancock. Dramas? There's always Seven Pounds, Ali, and The Pursuit of Happyness. What can't this guy do?
But who is Will Smith? What's his regular, day-to-day life like outside his movie roles? Do you know about some of the bolder career moves he made early on? His rap background? His career as a producer? His pure and insurmountable will power? (We didn't intend for that pun, but it works).
We've poured through the history of the man. Through interview after interview, fact after fact, and quote after quote in order to bring you the best stories about who Will Smith really is. Whether you love him for his rapping or his acting, there is so much to learn about the man, the myth, the (I am) legend. Consider this your own personal Will Smith biography or wiki. These are fun facts you didn't know about Will Smith!
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He Was a Millionaire Before He Turned 20
An extremely accomplished rapper at a young age, the Fresh Prince released his first album with DJ Jazzy Jeff just three weeks before they graduated high school. Their first album made the top 200 Billboard charts. A year later they release their second album, He's the DJ I'm the Rapper. It hit number four on the charts! It ended up going triple platinum, making Smith a teenage millionaire.
Source: People.com
He Met DJ Jazzy Jeff When He Was Only 16
Will Smith was only 12 years old when he started rapping. (He went by the Fresh Prince from early on.) From the beginning, he always had that comedic flair to his rhymes. Then four years later, at just 16, Smith met a DJ at a party who went by DJ Jazzy Jeff, and rap history was made.
The pair always set out to make fun, friendly, curse-free raps, avoiding the gangster rap that was coming out at the time.
Source: Biography.com
Eight of His Movies (in a Row) Made More Than $100 Million
That's right, he was in eight movies that made more than $100,000,000. In a row! That is no small feat. $100 million is impressive for any movie, but eight in a row is unheard of.
Everything between 2002's Men in Black II to 2008's Hancock blew up at the box office. That includes MIIB, Bad Boys II, I,Robot, Shark Tale, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, and Hancock. A few of these films made much more than that, two of them even topped $200 million.
Source: BoxofficeMojo
He Could Have Gotten in to MIT
It's a long-standing rumor that Will Smith turned down a scholarship to Boston's prestigious MIT. This is only half true. "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college," Smith said.
Source: Biography.com
He Founded a Private Elementary School
Dubbed the New Village Academy, Will and wife Jada opened the $1.2 million school in 2009. Smith, who has been accused of being a Scientologist, tried to convince the public that the school would teach about all religions, but people didn't believe it. It eventually shut down in 2013, unable to escape the controversy.
Source: AbcNews
Nas Helped Him Write "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"
Who knew that Will Smith and Nas were such good friends? For years, rumor had it that Nas was ghost writing for Smith on hits like "Chasin' Forever," and "Yes Yes Y'all." But Nas came out on Reddit to set the record straight. He was there, he helped, but Will Smith wrote his hits.
“Alright, let’s clear this up once and for all. I hung out with Will in the studio. And watched him write it. It was a fun studio session, and I said a line or two or three to him. It wasn’t that serious. Will Smith wrote that song. But seriously, I watched him have fun making that record on his own, and Will is a true MC,”
Source: Genius.com (From a Reddit AMA)
He Can Solve a Rubik's Cube in Under a Minute
Remember way back on Fresh Prince will Will shows Uncle Phil he can do a Rubik's cube? Or we he gets the man's attention with one in Pursuit of Happyness? Well it's not movie magic, that's him. In real life, he's a pro at cranking through that ridiculously hard puzzle.
Source: Rubik's Cube
He Nearly Went Bankrupt in His Early 20s
Will Smith went from being an unknown Philly kid to a full-fledged rap phenomenon impossibly fast. Like any teenager who suddenly becomes rich, he started spending his money. Fast. That, combined with the fact that he didn't file his taxes correctly, put him in a tight spot. The IRS came knocking saying that he owed $2.8 million in back taxes!
Luckily, he got his gig on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air soon after,and he was able to pay off his debt. He reportedly had to pay 70% of every check directly to the government.
Source: Reddit
His First Record Producer Tried to Kill Him
Nowadays we see Will Smith as a total A-lister. But before he was a bonified movie star, he was an up-and-coming rapper who got caught up in street violence The rap game has always been rough, and you've got to start somewhere.
"I mean, during the first part of my music career, we signed our first deal with a gangster who later tried to shoot us," Will said. "He was a penny-ante gangster, but the bullets were for real. As we were driving away, he shot at the car five or six times. It was pretty scary, but you don't think about that while it's happening, you're just trying to get away. He would have killed us if he could actually shoot."
Source: IMDB
He Turned Down "Django Unchained"
Quentin Tarantino originally offered Will Smith the role of Django in his Oscar-winning film, but Smith turned it down because he wanted to play the "lead."
“Django wasn’t the lead, so it was like, I need to be the lead," Smith said. "The other character was the lead!”
He further explained how much he liked the screenplay and that the two even sat down and tried to work through it. But in the end, even though he thought the script was brilliant, it just wasn't for him.
Source: Huffington Post