Jada Pinkett Smith

About Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and hardrock/metal singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Wicked Wisdom. She is married to actor/rapper Will Smith.

Pinkett Smith, an African American, was born Jada Koren Pinkett in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Adrienne Banfield, the head nurse of an inner-city clinic in Baltimore, and Robsol Pinkett, Jr., who runs a construction company. Her parents divorced after only a few months of marriage and her mother has since re-married twice; her mother became pregnant with her while still in high school. Pinkett Smith majored in theatre at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where she met classmate Tupac Shakur with whom she developed a close friendship. In the documentary Tupac: Resurrection, Shakur says, "Jada is my heart and soul. She will be my friend for my whole life." Also in this documentary, Pinkett Smith calls Shakur "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime." The two remained close friends until Shakur's death in 1996. After graduating from the Baltimore School for the Arts, Pinkett Smith then spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue her career in acting. Pinkett Smith is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Pinkett Smith's big break came in 1991 when she was cast in the part of college freshman Lena James on the NBC television sitcom A Different World, a spin-off of The Cosby Show. She made her feature film debut two years later in Menace II Society (1993). She did not gain widespread recognition, however, until Set It Off and her role opposite Eddie Murphy in the remake of The Nutty Professor (1996). The following year, she had a minor part in the opening scene to the horror film Scream 2. In 2001 she co-starred with her husband Will in the Academy Award-nominated film Ali as the first wife of Cassius Clay. In 2003, she starred as Niobe in the Matrix series (Will Smith was originally considered for the role of Neo). In 2004, Pinkett appeared in the film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. In 2007, she starred in the Mike Binder film, Reign Over Me, also starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. She has also created "Maja," a line of women's T-shirts and dresses that are mostly sold through small catalogs, and is a major investor in the black female-owned cosmetics business, Carol's Daughter.