People

Will Smith

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and four Grammy Awards. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $10 billion worldwide, making him one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. Smith first gained recognition as part of a hip hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom he released five studio albums which contained five US Billboard Hot 100-top 20 singles—"Parents Just Don't Understand", "A Nightmare on My Street", "Summertime", "Ring My Bell", and "Boom! Shake the Room" —from 1985 to 1994. He released the solo albums Big Willie Style (1997), Willennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), Lost and Found (2005), and Based on a True Story (2025). Two of his singles, "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and "Wild Wild West", reached number one in the US. Smith began his acting career starring as a fictionalised version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1993 and 1994. He achieved wider fame as a leading manwith the film franchises Bad Boys (1995–2024) and Men in Black (1997–2012), where he respectively portrayed Mike Lowrey and Agent J. After starring in the thrillers Independence Day (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998), he received Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his portrayals of Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and Chris Gardnerin The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). He also starred in commercially successful films such as I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Seven Pounds (2008), Suicide Squad (2016), and Aladdin (2019). At the 94th Academy Awards, Smith slapped and shouted at presenter Chris Rock after Rock made an unscripted joke referencing Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Soon after, Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the biographical sports drama King Richard (2021). The incident earned substantial media coverage and criticism, with Smith ultimately resigning from the Academy and being banned from attending all its events for ten years. Description above from the Wikipedia article Will Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

I Am Legend

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Pursuit of Happyness

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Independence Day

As Capt. Steven Hiller

Shark Tale

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Men in Black

As Jay

I, Robot

As Del Spooner

Bad Boys II

As Detective Mike Lowrey

Suicide Squad

As Deadshot

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Hope Is a Good Thing

From the walls of Shawshank to the rooftops of Tehran, a chain of films about friendship, resilience, and the stubborn persistence of hope.

8 films

The Vincent Pastore Top Five

A tribute to Vincent Pastore, whose death today invites us to trace Pastore's arc from background wiseguy to recognisable character actor, without leaning on Th...

5 films

Signals in the Ash

From a father's vigil to a robot's devotion, eight films trace the fragile threads that hold humanity together when the world falls quiet.

8 films

Topics