Will Smith (born Willard Carroll Smith, Jr.) is a Hollywood actor, producer and musician. He was born and raised in Philadelphia in a Baptist household. His father owned a refrigeration company and his mother was a Philadelphia school board administrator. He attended Overbrook High School where his friends nicknamed him “Prince” because of his ability to smooth talk his way out of tricky situations. Although he is better known as an actor, Smith entered the entertainment industry as a rap musician. His first act was with Jeffrey A. Townes and the duo began performing as “D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince”. Their act gained popularity and in 1988 they won the first ever Grammy Award in the Rap Category. Smith became a millionaire before the age of 20. Due to his success at such a young age, he squandered a lot of money on luxuries. He also underpaid his income taxes, as a result of which the Internal Revenue Service took his house and income, and he was almost bankrupt at this stage.

In 1990, the television network NBC signed him on to their new show which was to be based on his own life as a rising star in Beverly Hills. The show was called “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and it was a success. It ran from 1990-1996 and provided a great launching pad for Smith’s career. He met his first wife Sheree Zampino at a filming of one of his shows in 1991. The couple married in 1992 and had a son named Trey. Upon their divorce in 1995, Smith had to pay $900,000 as a settlement along with $24,000 per month in alimony and child support.

Some of Smith’s first major films were “Six Degrees of Separation” launched in 1993 and “Bad Boys” launched in 1995. In 1996, he starred in a major blockbuster titled “Independence Day” directed by the German filmmaker Roland Emmerich. At that time it was the second highest grossing film in history and established Smith on the path to stardom. The following year, he starred in another major hit film called “Men in Black” along with Tommy Lee Jones. In this film and in the sequels that