Willard Carroll Smith II was born September 25, 1968, in Philadelphia. He is an actor, rapper and film producer. He gained recognition as part of a hip hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff with whom he released five studio albums which contained five Billboard Hot 100-top 20 singles. Smith began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He then achieved wider fame as a leading man for the action film Bad Boys (1995) and the science fiction comedy Men in Black.