Born Jaden Christopher Syre Smith on July 8, 1998 in Malibu, California to actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden Smith is an American child actor, rapper, songwriter and dancer. He is the elder brother of singer Willow Smith and the younger brother of Trey Smith. His breakthrough role was in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness, and he has also starred in the remakes of The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Karate Kid.
On his father’s side, he is African-American, and on his mother’s side, he is of West Indian, Creole, and Portuguese-Jewish descent. Smith was homeschooled along with his sister, and also attends the New Village Leadership Academy, which was co-founded by his parents in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas. Along with his siblings, Smith is a youth ambassador for Project Zambia in Conjunction with Hasbro Corporation, which helps children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith entered show business as a pint-sized child star, courtesy of his mom and dad. He began with a number of appearances on the Smith-produced sitcom All of Us (2003), and then moved into film with lead billing in another effort produced by his dad, the inspirational drama The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). That feature — a box-office and critical smash — starred Will and Jaden as a down-on-their-luck father/son pair drawn ever closer as the father vows to work his way up the corporate ladder and dramatically improve their circumstances. The young Smith won universal acclaim for his nuanced and heartwarming performance. The New York Times called him “likable in the extreme,” and he won an MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Performance. At the 79th Academy Awards, Smith presented the award for the Best Animated Short and the Best Live Action Short, along with acting nominee Abigail Breslin
Additional projects followed, including a humorous lead as a child prodigy who causes havoc when trapped in a science museum, in the family-oriented comedy Newton’s Law (2008), and one of the humans who teaches alien Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) about life on Earth in director Scott Derrickson’s science fiction remake The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). He earned a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. Smith appeared opposite his sister, Willow, in the 2009 Amulet — a family-oriented fantasy about two siblings who team up to save their mother from a deadly beast in an underground lair.
Smith landed his biggest role to date in 2010, starring alongside Jackie Chan in a remake of the 1984 coming-of-age classic, The Karate Kid. Smith plays Dre Parker, a 12-year-old Detroit native who moves to China to study martial arts with a kung fu master, so that he can face down the bullies who torment him. The film was a box-office smash, earning Smith praise for his impressive acting and kung fu skills. Smith also ventured into the world of music in conjunction with his work on the film, recording its official theme song, “Never Say Never,” in partnership with child pop sensation Justin Bieber.
By the time he turned 12, Jaden Smith had achieved levels of success that most actors only dream about. All three of his films debuted at No. 1 at the North American box office. He is working on another film—a drama titled Amulet, with his little sister Willow.
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