Willard Christopher Smith Jr. is an American actor and rapper born in 1968 in Philadelphia. He achieved modest fame as a rapper in the late 1980s under the name The Fresh Prince. However, his fame increased dramatically in 1990 when he starred in the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which aired on NBC for over half a decade until 1996. In the mid-1990s, Smith transitioned from television to film and starred in numerous blockbuster movies. He has been nominated for four Golden Globes and two Academy Awards and has won Grammy Awards.