Will Smith has been in the Hollywood spotlight since he made his debut on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sitcom in 1990, but it wasn’t until 2002 that he won an Academy Award! Over the last 20 years, Smith has taken home an impressive number of awards and nominations in multiple categories including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song. His followers can learn more about Will Smith Oscars success with this infographic from AfterCollege!
When it comes to celebrity success, Will Smith is considered one of the most popular and successful celebrities in the world today. He’s been nominated for 13 different awards and has won 4 of them, including one Golden Globe Award and 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards. With this kind of list of accomplishments, it’s no wonder that he has been ranked as the 18th highest grossing actor in the world with his films raking in more than $5 billion at the box office so far! Take a look at some more interesting facts about struggle of Will Smith for Oscars below!
Will Smith’s Early Life and Career
Willard Carroll Will Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, producer, rapper and songwriter. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. Before Winning Oscars he was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards (winning one for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for The Pursuit of Happyness), and has won multiple Grammy Awards.
His First Major Role – The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
In 1990, Will Smith made his first major appearance on the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He played a teenager from West Philadelphia who was sent to live with his wealthy Aunt and Uncle in Los Angeles after getting into trouble at home.
The show was a big success and ran for six years, until it ended in 1996. In total, he received seven award nominations over that time period, winning one award (Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy). He also received two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. It’s quite clear from these statistics just how successful Will Smith has been throughout his career in acting before reaching in the game of winning Oscar Award.
His Other Major Roles
Smith is a versatile actor that has played a wide range of roles . He is best known for starring in movies such as Independence Day, Men in Black, Bad Boys, The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock and Focus These sarring roles paved his way for winning Oscars. Some other major roles he has played include Shawn Spencer on the TV show Psych, Chris Gardner in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, Dr. Bennet Omalu in Concussion and Agent J in Men In Black II.
In his personal life, he has been married twice. He married Sheree Zampino in 1992. After that marriage ended in divorce, he married Jada Pinkett-Smith in 1997. He has also had several high profile relationships with actresses such as Gabrielle Union and Tyra Banks.
Will Smith Ocars-His three Oscar Nominations but Only Success
He received the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his depiction of Richard Williams in the movie King Richard the same night that he slapped Chris Rock. Smith was successful for getting nominated 3 times for Best Actor in a Leading Role nominations throughout his career.
Why King Richard was the only film Will Smith won an Oscar for?
Will Smith is one of the most well-known movie stars of all time, but he rarely wins an Oscar for acting. Although he has diversified into more dramatic films and is talented, he is mostly a populist actor who performs in high-profile, box office successes. His most memorable performances have been in movies like those previously mentioned, and while they made Will Smith a box office draw, they aren’t the kinds of pictures that are likely to garner many nominations of Will Smith for Oscars Award.
Smith had previous Oscar nominations for the films Ali (2002) and The Pursuit of Happyness (2007). Despite Smith’s own strong performance, particularly in Ali, he lost to Adrien Brody for the former award in The Pianist, and Forrest Whittaker won the latter in The Last King of Scotland.
Beyond earning him his first Oscar, Smith’s part in King Richard’s true narrative must have meant a lot to him. However, it also stands as one of the best examples of his acting prowess because it allowed him to portray a larger-than-life character while playing a different one. Naturally, winning an Oscar is frequently about narrative, and Will Smith’s campaign for the Oscars in 2022 included that element because he hadn’t won one before.
This made it more harder to overlook Smith since it gave the impression that he was overdue, much like when Leonardo DiCaprio received his first Oscar for The Revenant. However, this isn’t merely a lifetime achievement award—far from it. Smith is deserving of his first Oscar for his outstanding performance in King Richard.
Image Credits: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/10/will-smith-hosts-star-studded-emancipation-screening-for-dave-chappelle-and-more
