Jada Pinkett Smith's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Gotham Fish Mooney HawthoRNe Christina H… A Different World Lena James

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Jada Pinkett Smith was born to Robson Pinkett Jr. and Adrienne Banfield in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was a contractor and her mother was a nurse. They divorced after only a few months of marriage. She majored in dance and choreography at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where one of her classmates was 'Tupac Shakur'. She spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue her career in acting.

Her big break came in 1991 when she was cast in the part of a college frosh on the television sitcom A Different World (1987). She made her feature film debut two years later in Menace II Society (1993). She did not gain widespread recognition, however, until her role opposite 'Eddie Murphy' in The Nutty Professor (1996).

In addition to being in front of the camera, she has spent time behind it directing music videos. Pinkett-Smith is married to 'Will Smith', and they have a son, 'Jaden Christopher Syre Smith'; and a daughter, Willow Camille Reign Smith.


TRIVIA:

• Has been good friends with 'Carrie-Anne Moss' (qv) since the filming of _The Matrix Reloaded (2003)_ (qv) and _The Matrix Revolutions (2003)_ (qv).
• Lead singer of the pop/rock band Wicked Wisdom. Wicked Wisdom is well-known for being both mainstream pop and brutal heavy metal.
• (October 2005) She and 'Will Smith (I)' (qv) were forced to leave their home in California, because a bush fire threatened to destroy it and several other houses in that area.
• Step-mother of 'Trey Smith (II)' (qv) Will's son with his first wife Sheree.
• She attended Baltimore's School of Arts at the same time as 'Tupac Shakur' (qv), where they became close friends. They made a video together at the amusement park King's Dominion, where they lip-synced to 'Will Smith (I)' (qv)'s & 'Jeffrey A. Townes' (qv)'s "Parents Just Don't Understand." Tupac acts like an MC, and Jada acts like a dancer.
• Is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
• Miss Maryland, 1988.
• As a child, she took piano, tap, and ballet classes.