Will Smith (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor and musician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Smith's acting career took off in the 1990s with the success of the NBC sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990–1996). During those same years, he started a popular music career with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The duo released five studio albums together. Smith extended his music run into a solo career, which included the U.S. number one singles "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and "Wild Wild West" and four Grammy Awards.

Smith's acting career hit new peaks when he starred in three consecutive action blockbusters: "Bad Boys" (1995), "Independence Day" (1996) and "Men in Black" (1997). The three films made Smith one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Both the "Men in Black" and "Bad Boys" franchises would go on to include two more sequels, with a fourth "Bad Boys" film on the way. As a dramatic actor, Smith picked up Oscar nominations for "Ali" (2001) and "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006). He would win the Academy Award for best actor thanks to his performance in "King Richard" (2021). His other hit films include "I, Robot" (2004), "Shark Tale" (2004), "Hitch" (2005) and "I Am Legend." Off screen, Smith is perhaps best known for slapping Chris Rock on stage during the 2022 Oscars broadcast after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith resigned from the Academy in the aftermath of the slap and was also banned from attending all Academy events for 10 years.