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Smith first gained recognition as part of a hip hop duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff, with whom he released five studio albums which contained five US Billboard Hot 100-top 20 singles—"Parents Just Don't Understand", "A Nightmare on My Street", "Summertime", "Ring My Bell", and "Boom! Shake the Room" —from 1985 to 1994. He released the solo albums Big Willie Style (1997), Willennium (1999), Born to Reign (2002), Lost and Found (2005), and Based on a True Story (2025). Two of his singles, "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and "Wild Wild West", reached number one in the US.

Smith began his acting career starring as a fictionalised version of himself on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1993 and 1994. He achieved wider fame as a leading manwith the film franchises Bad Boys (1995–2024) and Men in Black (1997–2012), where he respectively portrayed Mike Lowrey and Agent J. After starring in the thrillers Independence Day (1996) and Enemy of the State (1998), he received Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his portrayals of Muhammad Ali in Ali (2001) and Chris Gardnerin The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). He also starred in commercially successful films such as I, Robot (2004), Shark Tale (2004), Hitch (2005), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008), Seven Pounds (2008), Suicide Squad (2016), and Aladdin (2019).

At the 94th Academy Awards, Smith slapped and shouted at presenter Chris Rock after Rock made an unscripted joke referencing Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Soon after, Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the biographical sports drama King Richard (2021). The incident earned substantial media coverage and criticism, with Smith ultimately resigning from the Academy and being banned from attending all its events for ten years.