1. Will Smith
Will Smith was born (September 25, 1968) in West Philadelphia was raised in
Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia. His father, Willard Christopher Smith, Sr.
and his mother, Caroline divorced when he was only 13. This charming young boy
enthralled people with his rapping skills early on in his life.
In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The
Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the
popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six
years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various
networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith transitioned from television to film,
and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films that received broad box
office success. In fact, he is the only actor in history to have eight consecutive
films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office
Smith married actress Jada Pinkett in 1997. Together they have had two children:
Jaden Christopher Syre (born 1998), his co-star in The Pursuit of Happyness, and
Willow Camille Reign (born 2000), who appeared as his daughter in "I Am
Legend".
Smith gave $1.3 million to charities in 2007, of which $450,000 went to two
Christian ministries, and $122,500 went to three Scientology organizations; the
remaining beneficiaries included "a Los Angeles mosque, other Christian-based
schools and churches, and the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Center in Israel". Smith
and his wife have also founded a private elementary school in Calabasas,
California, the New Village Leadership Academy, which has attracted controversy
and speculation over its use of Study Technology, a teaching methodology
developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.