The answer is Will Smith, the “Men in Black” star and global box-office powerhouse, whose films have grossed over $10 billion worldwide. And you can clearly see how his childhood experiences and his father’s influence impacted his journey in Hollywood.
Smith would later win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard, portraying the tough, determined father of tennis icons Venus and Serena Williams.
Williams raised his daughters in a challenging Compton neighborhood, guiding them to break barriers in a sport where few Black athletes had succeeded.
Reflecting on the role, Smith noted striking parallels between his father and Richard Williams.
“There was a certain amount of brutality that Richard Williams and my father suffered that created a certain hardness and endurance,” he said.
“And then sort of blending that with my own parenting style. It’s my job to nurture and water them into becoming what they already are, to grow into what they are, versus being an image of something that I need for me to feel good about my parenting.”
Banned from the Oscars
In recent years, Will Smith has focused heavily on self-reflection. Following the infamous Oscars slap, he’s uncovered new insights about himself.
”After the Oscars I shut it down for a minute and really went into the internal work and just taking a big, strong, honest look at myself,” he told BBC in 2025.
The incident at the 2022 Oscars saw Chris Rock make a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head, which is due to alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss.
In response, Smith walked onto the stage, slapped Rock, and told him not to mention his wife’s name. The moment quickly went viral, with video clips being watched by millions around the world.
Will Smith will not be allowed to attend the Oscars for the next 10 years. Will stepped down from the Academy shortly after the incident, calling his behavior “shocking, painful, and inexcusable.” The 57-year-old told 1Xtra that the aftermath also gave him space to look inward.
“It was like a manhole cover had been hiding parts of myself, and suddenly it was lifted,” he says.
At 57, the Oscar-winning actor shows no signs of slowing down, despite recent controversies. Last year, he released his first full-length album in two decades, Based on a True Story. While he’s no longer Hollywood’s highest-paid star — a title he held back in 2008 — his net worth in 2026 is estimated at an impressive $350 million.
And in January 2026, he returned to screens with the National Geographic documentary series Pole to Pole, streaming on Disney+, taking viewers on a breathtaking journey across some of Earth’s most extreme landscapes.