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Mini Biography
Will Smith was the second of four children of Caroline (school board employee) and Willard C Smith Sr. (owner of a refrigeration company). He grew up in middle class West Philadelphia. Will attended the Overbrook High School in Winfield, Pennsylvania, and got the nickname 'Prince' because of the way he could charm his way out of trouble. Bright student Will also signed up with the high-status Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia and later turned down a scholarship for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after deciding to take his music career seriously.Pursuing music, he met Jeff Townes at a party and they soon began performing together as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. When the duo took off in popularity, Smith made and spent a lot of money on a house, cars and jewelry; leading to his near bankruptcy in his early twenties.Luckily, in 1989, he met Benny Medina, who had an idea for a sitcom based on his life in Beverly Hills. Smith loved the idea as did NBC which put on the "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990). The plot was simple -Will basically played himself; a street-smart West Philly kid transplanted to Beverly Hills. The series lasted 6 years. During that time, he ventured into movies where the critics took note of him in Six Degrees of Separation (1993). With the success that came with the action picture Bad Boys (1995), Will's movie career was set. His had a huge hit with the Blockbuster Independence Day (1996) where he plays the alien-battling Marine Corps Captain Steven Hiller.