Biography, Filmography And Pictures:

Jada Pinkett Smith was born on September 18, 1971, and is an actress and hard rock metal singer and songwriter for the band "Wicked Wisdom". She married actor Will Smith in December of 1997, and together they have a son, Jaden Christopher Syre born July 8, 1998, and a daughter, Willow Camille Reign born October 31, 2000. The celebrity couple met when Pinkett auditioned for the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air television show. She is also a stepmother to Will's son from a former marriage with Sheree Zampino, named Willard Christopher Smith III. 

Jada Pinkett Smith was born Jada Koren Pinkett in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Adrienne Banfield, a nurse in Baltimore, and Robsol Jr., a construction company owner. she majored in theatre at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and after graduating with her degree, attended the North Carolina School of the Arts before leaving to seek her show business career. After relocating to Los Angeles, Jada began auditioning for any any every part she could get her hands on. Her hard work paid off and soon she was cast in guest appearances in "Moe's World", "True Colors", "Doogie Howser, M.D." and "21 Jump Street" with Johnny Depp.
 

She got her first big Hollywood break in the role of Lena James for thirty-six episodes on the television sitcom "A Different World" (1991) starring Jasmine Guy, where a group of students at a historically Black university struggle to make it through college. Her first movie role came in the role of Ronnie in the crime drama "Menace II Society" (1993) starring Samuel L. Jackson, about a young street hustler who attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life. She then took a supporting role in the romantic comedy "The Inkwell" (1994), and was then hired and cast in her first co-starring role in the crime drama "Jason's Lyrics" (1994), the story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends.

Hollywood was starting to take notice of actress, and in 1994 she was cast as Peaches in the action comedy "A Low Down Dirty Shame" (1994), starring Keenen Ivory Wayans and Charles S. Dutton, where a black detective becomes embroiled in a web of danger while searching for a fortune in missing drug money. But her big Hollywood break came in the role of Eddie Murphy's wife in the comedy "The Nutty Professor" (1996), where grossly overweight Professor Sherman Klump, desperate to lose weight, takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love. The actress was an overnight Hollywood celebrity, and her role alongside Eddie Murphy showed critics that she was able to carry a full length feature film. Her star was on the rise.

She took another starring role in the crime thriller "Set It Off" (1996), also starring Queen Latifah and Vivica A. Fox, about four Black women, all of whom have suffered for lack of money, set out on a scheme to rob banks. After a small role in the opening scene of the mystery thriller "Scream 2" (1997), she took the starring role in the romantic comedy "Woo" (1998) starring alongside Tommy Davidson. The film was a low budget flop, and critics were not impressed. 

Her next role was in the romantic thriller "Return To Paradise" (1998), starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, where two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession. She then teamed with Tommy Davidson and Damon Wayans again for the comedy "Bamboozled" (2000), where a frustrated African American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin it becomes a hit.

Smith was growing frustrated. After her initial success in show business, she seemed unable to break out into more high-profile roles, and felt she was being type cast as an African American supporting actress. But that was about to change. In 2001, she appeared with her husband Will in the award winning biography "Ali" (2001), a biography of sports legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early days to his days in the ring. "Ali" was a critical success, and was nominated for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and Jada was nominated for an Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. She was now a movie-star, and Hollywood loved her.

Another high-profile followed as Niobe in the sci-fi thriller "Matrix Reloaded" (2003), working with Keanu Reeves and the rebel leaders, who estimate they have 72 hours until 250,000 probes discover Zion and destroy it and its inhabitants. She followed the same year with "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003), where the human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith. The "Matrix" franchise was a blockbuster box office smash hit. And she was now a certified Hollywood action star.

Another co-starring role alongside Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx followed with the crime thriller "Collateral" (2004), where a cab driver finds himself the hostage of a contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. 

She then lent her distinctive voice talents to the animated family adventure franchise "Madagascar" (2005) voicing the character of Gloria the Hippo. The all-star voice cast also included Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen and Cedric the Entertainer, where spoiled by their upbringing, and with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs. 

She also participated in the sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" (2008), the sequel of the first movie, where the New York Zoo Animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. But they inadvertently land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family and starts having trouble communicating with them after so much time at the Central Park Zoo. The "Madagascar"  franchise was a huge box office success, and won a People's Choice Award, Teen Choice Award, and a Kid's Choice Award. 

In between "Madagascar" movies, Jada starred with Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle and Liv Tyler in the dramatic "Reign Over Me" (2007), about a man who looses his family in the September 11 attack on New York City and runs into his old college roommate. Rekindling the friendship is the one things that appears able to help the man recover from his grief. 

Next was a co-starring role in the independent dramatic comedy "The Women" (2008), with Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Bette Midler, Candice Bergen and Carrie Fisher. The story centers on a group of gossipy, high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily-wedded Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) finds her marriage in trouble when shop girl Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes) gets her hooks into Mary's man. Naturally, this situation becomes the hot talk amongst Mary's catty friends, especially the scandalmonger Sylvia Fowler, who has little room to talk - she finds herself on a train to Reno and headed for divorce right after Mary.
 

She wrapped her year in the dramatic "The Human Contract" (2008), with Paz Vega and Ted Danson, about a successful corporate type who is harboring a deep, dark secret befriends a free-spirited stranger who encourages him to ditch his stuffy lifestyle and live life in reckless abandon. Jada and husband Will Smith also wrote, produced, and directed "The Human Contract".

Watch Jada Pinkett Smith In "The Human Contract" Movie Trailer

Watch "The Women" Movie Trailer

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