Will Smith has been nominated for three Best Actor Oscars in his illustrious career, the latest being for his performance as ultimate tennis dad Richard Williams in King Richard (which also earned him his first Best Picture nomination as a producer). Smith is the rare bona fide movie star, a crowd-pleaser who has delighted audiences in a variety of roles for decades. It is frankly bizarre that he has never won an Oscar — King Richard follows Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness as his acting nominations, and we’ll see Sunday night if that translates to his first win.
What better opportunity to travel throughout his illustrious career and highlight some of our favorite performances? From his early roles to latest triumphs, here’s our rundown of some of his best work.
Paul, Six Degrees of Separation
This is one of the earliest possible glances at the sheer charisma that made Smith into the movie star he is today. He plays a charming young con man who tricks a wealthy Manhattan couple (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland) by claiming to be a friend of their children and, daringly, the son of Sidney Poitier. Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play that was itself inspired by a real story, the movie earned Channing an Academy Award nomination. If you ask me, Smith deserved one here, too, bringing the movie to life in every single scene. —Pete Volk
Six Degrees of Separation is available to watch on HBO Max.
Will, Papa’s Got A Brand New Excuse
Yes, this is not a movie, but some performances transcend categories (and he could have easily won an Emmy). Smith’s entire run on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deserves mention — his natural charm does a lot to keep that show as fun as it is — but this episode is one of the most highly regarded in the series, for good reason. When Will sees his estranged father at the restaurant he works in, a reunion seems to be in the cards. As Will gets more and more hopeful to have his father back in his life, his aunt and uncle are wary, seeing the warning signs. With touching performances from Smith and James Avery that leave no dry eyes in sight, this is an all-timer sitcom episode, no matter the era or show. —PV
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is available to watch on HBO Max.
Mike Lowrey, the Bad Boys franchise
Smith first launched onto the action star stage with Michael Bay’s 1995 classic Bad Boys, playing the super cool Miami detective Mike Lowrey in the buddy cop franchise, delivering just the perfect amount of swagger and confidence to play as the comedy straight man against Martin Lawrence’s more animated Marcus Burnett. The pair’s chemistry and Bay’s explosive direction helped propel Smith’s career forward. Bay shared a funny story about this on his Instagram in January, when Smith sent a signed copy of his new memoir to Bay. Long story short: Bay wanted Smith to run shirtless in a scene in Bad Boys, telling him it would help make him a superstar. Smith wasn’t sure, Bay ended up convincing him, and as Smith’s career and his signed message to Bay in the memoir reveal: The director was right.
Some of the comedy in the original Bad Boys hasn’t aged so well, but Smith’s performance is excellent, and it’s a good opportunity to shout out the latest installment in the franchise, Bad Boys for Life. In an older, more mature version of the franchise where the two stars are quite literally too old for this, Smith and Lawrence both deliver excellent performances as older,…
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