Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rip Torn and Tony Shalhoub. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects and makeup of Rick Baker. The film was released on July 2, 1997, by Columbia Pictures and grossed $589,390,539 worldwide against a $90 million budget.

An animated series based on the film, titled Men in Black: The Series, ran from 1997 to 2001. A live-action sequel, Men in Black II, was released in 2002. This was followed by Men in Black 3 in 2012.

Plot[link]

In 1997, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is a member of the Men in Black (MIB), a secret agency without ties to any government, whose goal is to maintain Earth as a "neutral zone" for extraterrestrial aliens, whom they disguise as humans around New York City. The agency maintains its secrecy by using a neuralyzer to wipe the memories of those that encounter either them or the aliens, and also the memories of former agents when they retire. Operating from an underground base at a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority ventilation station, they fund themselves by obtaining patents on alien technologies released for consumer consumption. K's former partner D has just retired after an incident at a border line between the U.S and Mexico where an alien disguised as a human almost killed an INS Officer, so K is forced to find a new partner. Agent Zed (Rip Torn), the Agency's current leader, suggests that he should find a new recruit, someone "fresh".

Meanwhile, James Darrell Edwards III (Will Smith) is a rookie police officer who is pursuing a man through the streets of Manhattan. He is catching him with his mentor officers, but due to their weight (as he calls them "donut" officers), he is forced to apprehend him alone. Edwards is surprised as the man has the ability to jump and climb very high. After some chase, he manages to corner him on the roof. The man smiles at Edwards and blinks very unusually (his eyelids are placed horizontally instead of vertically), as he falls down to his death.

Edwards explains to his supervisor the chase, but he is surprised by this and mocks him off. Just then, K arrives to the office and neuralyzes his superior and the two cops, and he also neuralyzes Edwards. After that, K talks to Edwards and offers him a "new life", gives him the MIB address, and tells him to arrive at the address the next day.

In the base, after Edwards completes several tests in unconventional ways, K offers him the chance to join the MIB. Edwards' identity is erased, and he becomes Agent J, K's partner. K onboards J into the MIB but during this, they learn that numerous alien refugees are fleeing the Earth. MIB is contacted by an Arquillian fleet in Earth orbit; the fleet warns that a "Bug," a member of a giant cockroach-like species that are at war with several alien races, has come to Earth searching for an object known as the Galaxy. Its infinite power could turn the tide of war in favor of the Bugs. To prevent this, they are willing to destroy the Earth unless the MIB can secure the Galaxy before their deadline, only hours away.

Agent K and Agent J find the Bug is disguised using the skin of farmer Edgar (Vincent D'Onofrio) after killing the human. It already killed two Arquillians it believed had the Galaxy. The two bodies, along with a cat that refuses to leave its owner, are taken to the city morgue. There, Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) discovers one of the tiny Arquillians is barely alive inside its human looking robot; struggling with English, it whispers to her that "The Galaxy is on Orion's belt" before it expires. K and J arrive to help remove the alien bodies and wipe Laurel's mind, but not before learning about this message, and Laurel suffers a déjà vu when she spots J (while J was working as an officer, she was examinating the body of a man J was chasing and she arrived at the station and questioned J but K erased her memory). They return back to the base, where Zed explains that there are no galaxies on Orion's belt. Agent K, still suspicious about J's words, goes to Frank the Pug (Tim Blaney), an Remoonian talking dog, who explains to K that the galaxy doesn't have to be in space and enormous to actually be a galaxy.

Suspicious about this, J and K head to the jewelry store Rosenberg owned. They find the store broken in, but it's empty. Noticing the Bug, they proceed to chase and lose it. They then look at the picture of Rosenberg and his cat and realize that Orion refers to Rosenberg's pet and that the belt would mean the cat's collar. Racing back to the morgue, they encounter the Bug who has figured out the same thing. It steals the Galaxy, which hangs in a small charm, and kidnaps Laurel - escaping while the MIB secure its spacecraft to prevent it from leaving the planet.

As the Arquillian deadline looms, the MIB tries to figure out how Edgar will leave. J then recalls from his initial briefing that the observation towers of the New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows are disguised spacecraft. Agents K and J race there, finding Edgar climbing one of the structures. Their arrival distracts the Bug but it enters the craft and starts the engines. The agents fire on the ship, forcing it to crash. As the two face off against Edgar, it rips through its disguise, swallows their guns and knocks them across the field. K tells J to keep the Bug from getting to the second ship by creating a distraction. K goads the Bug to eat him, which it does by swallowing him whole. J keeps the Bug distracted by stepping on cockroaches around a nearby dumpster. Before J can be eaten by the enraged Bug he tells the Bug to get out of his face before something bad happens. K having found his gun in the Bug's stomach, then blasts his way out, ripping the alien in half. K is slime covered but safe and J picks up the Galaxy from among the contents of the Bug's stomach. The news is then relayed to the Arquillian fleet, saving the Earth. While J and K are recovering from their battle, the top-half of the Bug suddenly rears up behind them, but Laurel shoots the Bug with J's gun which was ejected from the Bug's stomach.

As MIB cleans up the situation, and K apparently prepares to neuralyze Laurel, he admits that he was not training J as a partner but as his replacement, as he is ready to retire from the agency, thinking about the words D said to him. K gives him the neuralzer and explains the device, showing the 4 buttons, with one as the activator, the three others being "Days, Months, Years". He also tells J "I'll see you around", to which J responds; "No you won't.", and neuralyzes him.

In the epilogue, Laurel is Agent J's new partner Agent L, while K (now Kevin Brown) has returned to civilian life and the girl he left behind (after apparently 35 years spent in a coma after an accident), and J and L began to investigate more aliens disguised as humans as they drive away to the headquarters.

As the camera pans out, showing the Earth, solar system and eventually the galaxy, it is revealed that the galaxy is itself in a marble. A pair of alien hands finish playing with it and place it inside a sack with other such galaxies (verifying Frank's earlier statement).

Cast[link]

• Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K/Kevin Brown: J's grizzled and humorless mentor. Clint Eastwood turned down the part, while Jones only accepted the role after Steven Spielberg promised the script would improve, based on his respect for Spielberg's track record. He had been disappointed with the first draft, which he reportedly said "stank"; he felt it did not capture the tone of the comic.^[2]
• Will Smith as James Darrell Edwards III/Agent J: A former NYPD member, newly recruited to the MIB. Smith was cast because Barry Sonnenfeld's wife was a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Sonnenfeld also liked his performance in Six Degrees of Separation.^[2] Chris O'Donnell turned down the role because he found the role of a new recruit too similar to Dick Grayson, whom he played in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.^[3] David Schwimmer also turned down the part.^[2] Like Jones, Smith said he accepted the role after meeting with Spielberg and cited his success as a producer.
• Vincent D'Onofrio as Edgar the Bug: A giant alien insect who eats a farmer and uses his skin as a disguise. He comes to earth to kidnap the galaxy and use it to destroy the Arquillians. He is the main antagonist of the film. John Turturro and Bruce Campbell were both offered the role.^[2]
• Linda Fiorentino as Dr. Laurel Weaver/Agent L: A deputy medical examiner who has had a few run-ins with the MIB in the past.
• Rip Torn as Chief Z (Zed): The head of the MIB.
• Tony Shalhoub as Jack Jeebs: An alien, posing as a pawn shop owner, who deals in illegal weapons.
• Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Beatrice: Edgar's wife.
• Mike Nussbaum as Gentle Rosenberg, Arquillian Jeweler: Guardian of the galaxy, which he has attached to his pet cat's collar.
• Jon Gries as Van Driver
• Sergio Calderón as Jose
• Carel Struycken as Arquillian
• Fredric Lehne as INS Agent Janus
• Kent Faulcon as 2nd Lt. Jake Jensen
• Richard Hamilton as Agent D: K's partner at the start of the film, he decides he is too old for the job and has K erase his memory so he can retire.
• David Cross as Newton the Morgue Attendant
• Tim Blaney as Frank the Pug (voice): A smart-talking pug-like alien.

Production[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

The film is based upon the comic book The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. Producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald optioned the rights to The Men in Black in 1992, and hired Ed Solomon to write a very faithful script. Parkes and MacDonald wanted Barry Sonnenfeld as director because he had helmed the darkly humorous The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values. Sonnenfeld was attached to Get Shorty (1995), so they approached Les Mayfield to direct, as they had heard about the positive reception to his remake of Miracle on 34th Street. They actually saw the film later and decided he was inappropriate.^{[citation needed]} Men in Black was delayed so as to allow Sonnenfeld to make it his next project after Get Shorty.^[2]

Much of the initial script drafts were set underground, with locations ranging from Kansas to Washington DC and Nevada. Sonnenfeld decided to change the location to New York City, because the director felt New Yorkers would be tolerant of aliens who behaved oddly while disguised. He also felt much of the city's structures resembled flying saucers and rocket ships. Production designer Bo Welch designed the MIB headquarters with a 1960s tone in mind, because that was when their organization is formed. He cited influences from Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who designed a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Being the arrival point of aliens on Earth, Welch felt MIB HQ had to resemble an airport.^[2]

ILM provided most of the special effects. Rick Baker led the special effects of the film, which was the most complex in his career to date. He had to have approval from both director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg: "It was like, 'Steven likes the head on this one and Barry really likes the body on this one, so why don't you do a mix and match?' And I'd say, because it wouldn't make any sense." Sonnenfeld also changed a lot of the film's aesthetic during pre-production: "I started out saying aliens shouldn't be what humans perceive them to be. Why do they need eyes? So Rick did these great designs, and I'd say, 'That's great — but how do we know where he's looking?' I ended up where everyone else did, only I took three months."^[4]

Filming began in March 1996. Five months into the shoot, the crew realized their ending was unexciting. It was originally meant to be a humorous existential debate between Agent J and the Bug, and five potential replacements were discussed. One of these had Laurel Weaver being neuralyzed and K remaining an agent. The change to a fight sequence annoyed Rick Baker, as their animatronic Bug had to be replaced with computer-generated imagery. Further changes were made during post-production to simplify the plotline involving the possession of the tiny galaxy. The Arquillians would hand over the galaxy to the Baltians, ending a long war. The Bugs need to feed on the casualties and steal the galaxy in order to continue the war. Through changing of subtitles, the images on MIB's main computer and Frank the Pug's dialogue, the Baltians were eliminated from the plot. Earth goes from being potentially destroyed in the crossfire between the two races into being possibly destroyed by the Arquillians themselves to prevent the Bugs from getting the galaxy.^[2] These changes to the plot were carried out when only two weeks remained in the film's post-production.^[5]

Soundtracks[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Two different soundtracks were released in the US: a score soundtrack and an album, featuring various songs. In the UK only the album was released.

Danny Elfman composed the score for the film, making use of his usual combination of orchestra and electronics. The score also makes prominent use of jazz for the M.I.B. theme, which consists of an ostinato, usually played on lower instruments. In the trailer, it played Confronting The Chief by Elliot Goldenthal from the film Demolition Man.

Promotion[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Galoob released various action figures of characters and aliens in the film. An official comic adaptation was released by Marvel Comics. The official Men in Black game is a third-person shooter developed by Gremlin Interactive and released to lackluster reviews in October '97 for the PC and the following year for the PlayStation. Also a very rare promotional PlayStation video game system was released in 1997 with the Men in Black logo on the CD lid. Men in Black: The Animated Series was created by Sony Pictures Television, and also inspired several games. Men in Black was the inspiration behind the Men in Black: Alien Attack ride at Universal Studios Orlando, in which Will Smith and Rip Torn reprised their roles. A Men in Black role-playing game was also released in 1997 by West End Games.

Will Smith released a single concurrent with the film, also called "Men in Black".

Reception[link]

Men in Black won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and was also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe of Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.^[6]

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, having a 91% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes film critic website.^[7] On Empire Magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, "Men in Black" placed 409th.^[8]

Following the film's release, Ray-Ban stated sales of their Predator 2 sunglasses (worn by the organization to deflect neuralyzers) tripled to $5 million.^[9]

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Agent J & Agent K - Nominated Heroes
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Men in Black - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good." - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Science Fiction Film

References[link]

External links[link]

Film portal

• Official website

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Men in Black

• Men in Black at the Internet Movie Database
• Men in Black at AllRovi

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010)

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (July 2011)

Men in Black (MIB), in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves. The term is also frequently used to describe mysterious men working for unknown organizations, as well as to various branches of government allegedly designed to protect secrets or perform other strange activities. The term is generic, used for any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting.^[1]

Behavior[link]

According to the accounts of those reporting encountering them, Men in Black always seem to have detailed information on the persons they contact, as if the individual had been under surveillance for a long period of time. They have been described as seeming confused by the nature of everyday items such as pens, eating utensils or food, as well as using outdated slang, though accounts on the behavior of Men in Black vary widely. Accounts indicate that they often claim to be from an agency collecting information on the unexplained phenomenon their subject has encountered. In other accounts, they seem to be trying to suppress information by, for instance, trying to convince their subject the phenomenon never existed. They have been described as behaving in either an exceedingly furtive manner or a completely outgoing one, with wide grins and disconcerting giggles.^[2] This behavior suggests that the "gigglers" were pranksters, or perhaps people just having a joke around. Conspiracies about groups of people, like MiB here, are often preyed upon to use as pranks, just like sometimes people impersonate others for either scandal or enjoyment.

Possible explanations[link]

Folkloric explanations[link]

Although the phenomenon was initially and most frequently reported in the 1950s and 1960s, some researchers—John Keel and others—have suggested similarities between Men in Black reports and earlier demonic accounts. Keel suggests that MiBs are a modern-day manifestation of the same phenomena that were earlier interpreted as the devil or encounters with fairies. Similarly, folklorist Peter Rojcewicz^[3] noted that many Men in Black accounts parallel tales of people encountering the devil: Neither Men in Black nor the devil are quite human, and witnesses often discover this fact midway through an encounter. The meaning of this parallel, however, has been the subject of debate. Even so, the term "the black man" was used for centuries in reference to the Devil,^{[citation needed]} up until contemporary times when "black man" was used to replace the term "Negro" and the satanic sense was lost. A telling example may be found in an 1837 report in The Morning Chronicle. A certain John Henning, charged with running away with a chest of tea, defended himself with the claim that "he was ordered to carry it by a gentleman in black" who told him to carry it to Petticoat-lane.

"The LORD MAYOR: Pray what sort of gentleman was he? - Prisoner: I can't just tell, please you, my lord; I only know he was in black. The LORD MAYOR: I am afraid it was the gentleman in black that directed you in this matter. Had he a tail? - Prisoner: A tail! A pig-tail, do you mean, please you, my lord? No, I can't say as he had. The LORD MAYOR: Did you look at his feet? What sort were they? - like a cow's [a laugh]?"^[4]

In witchcraft trials "The Black Man" was often reported as meeting with the accused and having sexual intercourse with them. In Washington Irving's story "The Devil and Tom Walker" set in 1727, Irving tells how Tom asks "the black man" who he is. The man says he goes by many names and is called the black miner sometimes or the black woodsman. He says that since the Indians are gone, he presides over the persecutions of various religious sects, supports slave-dealers and is the master of the Salem witches. Tom replies that he must be "Old Scratch", which is another name for the devil, and the black man acknowledges that he is Old Scratch. In 1932, H. P. Lovecraft also used the figure of The Black Man in his tale "The Dreams in the Witch-House" as a synonym for the Devil, but he also uses the term and description for Nyarlathotep, a malevolent entity of his own creation. In the Middle Ages The Black Man was not a man with African features, but rather a man colored black and dressed in black.

Military/CIA explanations[link]

More prosaically, Clark cites Bill Moore, who asserts that "the Men in Black are really government agents in disguise ... members of a rather bizarre unit of Air Force Intelligence known currently as the Air Force Special Activities Center (AFSAC) ... As of 1991, the AFSAC, headquartered in Fort Belvoir, Virginia," and "under the operational authority of Air Force Intelligence Command centered at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas." (Clark, 321–22) Curiously, Moore also reports that AFSAC was inspired by the tales of Men in Black from the 1950s, and had nothing to do with those early accounts. Similarly, Clark notes that Dr. Michael D. Swords has speculated that the Barker/Bender Men in Black case (occurring shortly after the CIA-directed Robertson Panel issued its recommendations to spy on civilian UFO groups) might have been a psychological warfare experiment.

Hoax explanation[link]

In his article, "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood claims that at age 18, he cooperated when Gray Barker urged him in the late 1960s to develop a hoax — which Barker subsequently published — about what Barker called "blackmen", three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt".^[5]

In popular culture[link]

Men in Black (1997), starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as Agent K and Agent J, was based on Lowell Cunningham's comic book about a secret organization that monitors and suppresses paranormal activity on Earth - The Men in Black from Aircel Comics. The film was followed by Men in Black: The Series and its 2002 sequel Men in Black II. Men in Black 3 was released on May 25th, 2012. Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who published the comic book, took the property to Sony to become a billion-dollar film franchise.^[6] Will Smith made a song called "Men in Black" for the movie Men in Black in 1997, and "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)" for its sequel in 2002.

The Adult Swim animated television series The Venture Bros. features two recurring characters, Agents John Doe and Card Holder, that exhibit most of the aforementioned stereotypical traits and behavior of Men in Black.

Between January 10 and March 27, 2012, a Japanese anime series by the title Ano Natsu de Matteru (あの夏で待ってる) "Waiting in the Summer" aired in which an extraterrestrial girl landed on earth and quickly entered into a romantic love story with a Japanese boy. In the series, the protagonists make a film featuring "Men in Black" much in the fashion of the 1997 film, and at the very end one of the protagonists is revealed to be the director of the Japanese MIB branch office which, again, looks just like the MIB office in the 1997 and 2002 films.

The Silence from Doctor Who may also be the Men in Black. They wear black suits and ties, and those who have had an encounter have no memory of the encounter until they see the Silence again. These are both characteristics of the Men in Black.

In Deus Ex, JC Denton encounters multiple Men and Women in Black throughout the story. They are strong, lethal enemies that have extremely pale and gray skin, as well as echoed voices and an eye tattooed on the back of their neck. They are not completely robotic as they bleed when attacked and when they explode upon death.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (November 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Men in Black/MIB's at maar.us
• Men In Black Are Aliens

v t e UFOs and ufology Index of ufology articles Notable incidents List of aircraft-UFO incidents List of UFO sightings in outer space Aurora (1897) Roswell (1947) Washington (1952) Tehran (1976) Rendlesham Forest (1980) Japan Air Lines (1986) Belgian UFO wave (1990) Phoenix Lights (1997) 21st century Mexico (2004) Tinley Park Lights (2004-2006) O'Hare Airport (2006) Alderney (2007) Stephenville (2008) Turkey (2008) Wales (2008) Norway (2009) Harbour Mille (2010) Vancouver, Washington (2011) Sightings by country Argentina Australia Belarus Belgium Brazil Canada China France Indonesia Iran Iraq Italy Mexico New Zealand Norway Philippines Portugal Russia South Africa Spain (Canary Islands) Sweden United Kingdom United States Hypothesis and studies UFO hypotheses (Extraterrestrial hypothesis) Project Blue Book Condon Report COMETA Report List of notable studies in ufology Identification studies of UFOs Types Black triangle Fastwalkers Flying saucer Foo fighter Ghost rockets Green fireballs Mystery airship UFO conspiracy theory Majestic 12 Area 51 Bob Lazar Men in Black Project Serpo Disclosure Project Culture UFO Culture UFO religion List of UFO religions UFOs in fiction Involvement Government responses Organizations Ufologists Abduction Contactee Topics Declassification of UFO documents Skeptics List of skeptics and skeptical organizations Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Will Smith
Smith in 2011
Born	Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. (1968-09-25) September 25, 1968 (age 43) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Other names	The Fresh Prince
Occupation	Actor, producer, rapper
Years active	1985–1993, 1997–2005 (rapping), 1990–present (acting)
Spouse	Sheree Zampino (m. 1992–1995) «start: (1992)–end+1: (1996)»"Marriage: Sheree Zampino to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith) Jada Pinkett Smith (m. 1997) «start: (1997)»"Marriage: Jada Pinkett Smith to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith)
Children	Trey Smith Jaden Smith Willow Smith
Website
www.willsmith.com

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968),^[1] also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood.^[2] Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

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 moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.^[3]

Fourteen of the nineteen fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office.^[4] His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.

Family and early life[link]

Born and raised in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia, Smith also lived in Germantown in Northwest Philadelphia. His mother, Caroline (née Bright), was a school administrator who worked for the Philadelphia school board, and his father, Willard Christopher Smith, Sr., was a refrigeration engineer.^[5][6] He was raised Baptist.^[7] His parents separated when he was thirteen,^[8] and did not actually divorce until around 2000.^[9]

It is untrue, though widely reported, that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); he never applied to the school,^[10] although he was admitted to a "pre-engineering program" there.^[9] According to Smith, "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."^[11]

Recording and acting career[link]

Smith at the Emmy Awards in 1993

Early work (1985–1995)[link]

Smith started as the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, with his childhood friend Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes as turntablist and producer,^[12] as well as Ready Rock C (Clarence Holmes) as the human beat box. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand" and "Summertime".^[12] They gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category (1988).^[12]

Smith had a line in "Voices That Care", a 1991 Persian Gulf War song by a celebrity group. Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes.^[12] The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income.^[13] Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him.^[12]

The show was successful and began his acting career. Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world," studying box office successes' common characteristics.^[8] His first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and the action film Bad Boys (1995) which he starred opposite of Martin Lawrence.

Breakthrough (1996–2000)[link]

In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day. The film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw.^[14] He later struck gold again in the summer of 1997 alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the summer hit Men in Black playing Agent J. In 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State.^[12]

He turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix in favor of Wild Wild West (1999). Despite the disappointment of Wild Wild West, Smith has said that he harbors no regrets about his decision, asserting that Keanu Reeves's performance as Neo was superior to what Smith himself would have achieved.^[15] Though in interviews subsequent to the release of Wild Wild West he stated that he "made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better."^[16]

2001–present[link]

Smith in September 2009

In 2005, Smith was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for attending a record breaking three premieres in a 24-hour time span.^[17]

He has planned to star in a feature film remake of the television series It Takes a Thief.^[18]

On December 10, 2007, Smith was recognized at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Smith left an imprint of his hands and feet outside the world renowned theater in front of many fans.^[19] Later that month, Smith starred in the film I Am Legend, released December 14, 2007. Despite marginally positive reviews,^[20] its opening was the largest ever for a film released in the United States during December. Smith himself has said that he considers the film to be "aggressively unique".^[21] A reviewer said that the film's commercial success "cemented [Smith's] standing as the number one box office draw in Hollywood."^[22] On December 1, 2008, TV Guide reported that Smith has been selected as one of America’s top ten most fascinating people of 2008 for a Barbara Walters ABC special that aired on December 4, 2008.^[23]

Smith is currently developing a film entitled The Last Pharaoh, in which he will star as Taharqa.^[24]

President Barack Obama has stated that if a film were to ever be made about his life, he would have Smith play his part, because "he has the ears". Obama stated that the two have discussed a possibility of a film based on the 2008 election, but this may not happen until the end of the Obama presidency.^[25]

Men in Black III opened on May 25, 2012. In it, Smith will play Agent J for the third time, being one of his more popular earlier roles coincides with the fact that it will be his first major starring role in four years.

On August 19, 2011, it was announced^[26] that Smith had returned to the studio with producer La Mar Edwards to make a new album. Edwards has worked with artists such as T.I., Chris Brown, and Game.

Smith and his son, Jaden, are currently filming After Earth, which is set for a 2013 release.

Personal life[link]

Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 11, 2009, in Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow

Smith was raised by his parents in West Philadelphia. Smith credits his father's dedication when discussing his involvement in the lives of his own children: "I look at my father and how he was able to keep four kids fed and clothed and still managed to find time to spend with us."^[27] Smith married Sheree Zampino in 1992. They had a son, Willard Christopher Smith III, also known as "Trey", but divorced in 1995. Trey appeared in his father's music video for the 1998 single "Just the Two of Us".

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. Along with his brother, Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc.,^[28] a Beverly Hills-based company named after his first son. Smith and his family reside on Star Island in Miami Beach, Florida and in Los Angeles, Stockholm, Sweden^[29] and Philadelphia.

Smith was consistently listed in Fortune Magazine's "Richest 40" list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. He donated $4,600 to the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama.^[30] On December 11, 2009, Smith and his wife hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, when Obama had won the prize.^[31]

Smith has said he has studied multiple religions, including Scientology, and he has said many complimentary things about Scientology and other faiths. Despite his praise of Scientology, Smith said "I just think a lot of the ideas in Scientology are brilliant and revolutionary and non-religious"^[32][33] and "Ninety-eight percent of the principles in Scientology are identical to the principles of the Bible.... I don't think that because the word someone uses for spirit is 'thetan' that the definition becomes any different."^[34] He has denied having joined the Church of Scientology, saying "I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions, and I respect all people and all paths."^[35]

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".^[36] Smith and his wife have also founded a private elementary school in Calabasas, California, the New Village Leadership Academy, which uses Study Technology, a teaching methodology developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.^[37] Federal tax filing showed that Will Smith donated $1.2 million to the school in 2010.^[38]

In 2012 he expressed support for the legalizing of same-sex marriage, in an endorsement of president Barack Obama's declaration to adopt this stance on the issue.^[39]

Discography[link]

With DJ Jazzy Jeff[link]

• Rock the House (1987)
• He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper (1988)
• And in This Corner... (1989)
• Homebase (1991)
• Code Red (1993)

Solo[link]

• Big Willie Style (1997)
• Willennium (1999)
• Born to Reign (2002)
• Lost and Found (2005)

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Film[link]

Box office grosses[link]

References[link]