BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actress. In 1991, she made her first break with a role in the sitcom A Different World. She has also starred in major motion pictures, including The Nutty Professor with co-star Eddie Murphy, and Spike Lee's highly controversial Bamboozled. Pinkett Smith is married to Will Smith, and the mother of two children. .
Early Life and Career
Actress Jada Pinkett was born on September 18, 1971, in Baltimore, Maryland. The daughter of a contractor Robsol, Jr. and nurse Adrienne Banfield, Pinkett attended the Baltimore School of the Arts as a teenager, where one of her classmates and friends was the late rap artist Tupac Shakur. This diminutive actress got her first big break in 1991, when she joined the cast of the Cosby Show spin-off sitcom A Different World.
Film Career
Her film career took off with the 1993 movie Menace II Society, and led to starring roles in Jason's Lyric (1994), Set it Off (1996), The Nutty Professor (1996), Scream 2 (1997) and Return to Paradise.Jada Pinkett Smith has also stepped behind the camera to direct music videos, and has designed a line of women's clothing.
She also appeared in Spike Lee's highly controversial Bamboozled(2000), a satire of racial bias in the television industry. In 2001, Pinkett Smith appeared with husband Will Smith in the heavily publicized biopic Ali, in which she played Mohammad Ali's first wife, Sonji. Two years later, Pinkett Smith became known for her role as human rebel Niobe in the films The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). She also co-starred with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle in the dramas Reign Over Me (2007) and The Women (2008) with Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes and Debra Messing.
Pinkett Smith made her debut as a director and writer in the film the 2008 independent film The Human Contract.
Marriage and Personal Life
Pinkett and box-office and recording star Will Smith were married on New Year's Eve, 1997. Their son, Jaden Christopher Syre, was born in 1998. Their daughter, Willow Camille Reign, was born in October 2000.
More established roles (2001–present)
Perhaps her best-known role to date is the part of human rebel Niobe in the films The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), sequels to 1999's The Matrix. The character was eventually written, specifically, with Pinkett Smith in mind. Directly after she filmed her scenes for Ali, Pinkett Smith flew to Australia to work on the Matrix sequels. The sequels earned over $91 million and $48 million during opening weekends, respectively.
In 2008, Pinkett Smith portrayed Alex Fisher, a lesbian author, in The Women. Pinkett Smith's directorial debut was The Human Contract; she also wrote and acted in the movie. Starring Paz Vega and Idris Elba, it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008. In January 2009, she started working on the TNT medical drama Hawthorne, in which she was executive producer and a starring cast member. In September 2011, the show was cancelled by TNT, after 3 seasons. In spring 2012, Pinkett Smith launched a web series entitled Red Table Talks, with the first episode featuring her daughter and her mother, in order to encourage dialogue within families.
Musical career
The band's self-titled debut album was released on February 21, 2006, by Pinkett Smith's production company 100% Womon. Will Smith served as the project's executive producer. The album made it to Billboard's Top Heat seekers chart, and peaked at number 44 during the week of March 11, 2006. All music reviewer Alex Henderson said of the album, "[Pinkett Smith] shows herself to be an expressive, commanding singer" and that "[Wicked Wisdom] shows considerable promise". The band promoted the album in 2006, touring with heavy metal band Sevendust.Under the stage name Jada Koren, Pinkett Smith formed the metal band Wicked Wisdom in 2002. The band consists of Pinkett Smith performing lead vocals, Pocket Honore (guitar, vocals), Cameron "Wirm" Graves (guitar, keyboard, vocals), and Rio (bass, vocals). The band is managed by James Lassiter and Miguel Melendez of Overbrook Entertainment, a company co-founded by Pinkett Smith's husband Will Smith.
The Onyx Hotel Tour
Wicked Wisdom landed a slot on Britney Spears' Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004, one of the year's highest-profile tours. The band opened for Spears for eight dates in April and May 2004, during the European leg of the tour.
Ozzfest 2005
In 2005, Sharon Osbourne went to see Wicked Wisdom perform at a small night club in Los Angeles, California. She said, "I was blown away. When you see and hear Jada with her band it's apparent that she has nothing but love and respect for this genre of music." In May 2005 organizers announced Wicked Wisdom would perform on the second stage of 2005's Ozzfest. Fans of the festival were outraged, claiming the band did not have the credibility to perform at the music festival. Aware of the questions about the band's addition to Ozzfest, Pinkett Smith said, "I'm not here asking for any favors. You've got to show and prove. And not every audience is going to go for it." Wicked Wisdom's guitarist Pocket Honore said while early dates of the tour were rocky, "once word got out that we weren't a joke, people started coming out and by the sixth or seventh gig we were on fire." Pinkett Smith agreed, saying, "After seven dates within the Ozzfest tour, the whole attitude of it started to turn around once the word of mouth started getting out."
Personal life
Pinkett Smith met Will Smith in 1990 on the set of Smith's television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when she auditioned for the role of his character's girlfriend, Lisa Wilkes. She was considered too short and the role went to actress Nia Long. Pinkett and Smith became friends, however, and began dating in 1995. On December 31, 1997, about 100 guests attended their wedding at The Cloisters, near her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Regarding her marriage, Pinkett Smith said that they are "private people" and told one interviewer, "I will throw my career away before I let it break up our marriage. I made it clear to Will. I'd throw it away completely."
Pinkett Smith and Smith have two children, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born July 8, 1998 in Malibu, California), Willow Camille Reign Smith (born October 31, 2000 in Los Angeles, California). She also has a stepson from Will's first marriage: Trey Smith.
Smith commented in 2008 on their parenting styles: "We're not strict but we definitely believe it's a very important component for rearing children. It creates safety for them. They understand that they need guidance." Jaden and Willow are attending public school once again. The family resides in a 27,000 square foot (2,500 m2) home, on 100 acres (40 ha), in Malibu.
Business ventures
After opening her music company 100% Womon Productions, Pinkett Smith created her own fashion label, Maja, in 1994. The clothing line features women's T-shirts and dresses embellished with the slogan "Sister Power", sold primarily through small catalogs.
In 2003, Pinkett Smith and Smith helped to create the television series All of Us, which originally aired on UPN. Pinkett Smith published her first children's book, Girls Hold Up This World, in 2004. "I wrote the book for Willow and for her friends and for all the little girls in the world who need affirmation about being female in this pretty much masculine world. I really tried to capture different sides of femininity. I want girls in the world to feel powerful, to know they have the power to change the world in any way they wish."
In 2005, Pinkett Smith became one of many celebrities to invest a combined total of $10 million in Carol's Daughter, a line of beauty products created by Lisa Price. She became a spokesperson for the beauty line, and said, "To be a part of another African American woman's dream was just priceless to me."
She also is part owner of the Philadelphia 76ers with her husband Will Smith and other partners.
Charity work and politics
Together with Smith, Pinkett Smith has created the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland, a charity which focuses on youth in urban inner cities and family support. Her aunt, Karen Banfield Evans, is the foundation's executive director. The charity was awarded the David Angell Humanitarian Award by The American Screenwriters Association (ASA) in 2006. The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation has provided grants to non-profit organizations such as YouthBuild, and Pinkett Smith has made personal donations to organizations such as Capital K-9s.
In December 2006, she donated $1 million to the Baltimore School for the Arts in memory of her friend Tupac.
When Pinkett Smith's aunt, Karen Banfield Evans, was diagnosed with lupus, the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, in association with the Lupus Foundation of America and Maybelline, held the first annual "Butterflies Over Hollywood" event on September 29, 2007 at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The event raised funds for LFA public and professional educational programs. The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation was presented with an award in 2007 at the 4th Annual Lupus Foundation of America Awards.
In 2012, on behalf of PETA, Pinkett Smith wrote a letter to Baltimore's mayor, asking that the visiting Ringling Brothers Circus "comply with Baltimore’s absolute prohibition of the use of devices such as bullhooks" and not harm the elephants. In 2013, she appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to raise funds and awareness of women's issues globally.
In 1997, Pinkett Smith was the emcee of the Million Woman March in Philadelphia.
Scientology
After meeting Scientologist Tom Cruise during the filming of Collateral in 2004, Pinkett Smith and Smith donated $20,000 to the Hollywood Education and Literacy Program (HELP), Scientology's basis for homeschooling. The couple came under fire in 2008 when they decided to fund New Village Leadership Academy, a private elementary school located in Calabasas, California. The school employs teachers dedicated to the Scientology religion and features methodologies like study technology, created by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The couple have denied claims that they are themselves Scientologists.
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