Jada Pinkett Smith studied dance and theater at the Baltimore School of Arts, and later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She began acting in several television shows until getting her first big break in the film A Low Down Dirty Shame, in 1994.
But Pinkett Smith really broke out in the 1996 film The Nutty Professor, where she appeared alongside Eddie Murphy. It led to roles in other films, such as Scream 2 and Bamboozled. In 2003 she appeared in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as rebel Niobe. Recently Smith directed her first feature film The Human Contract, and also stars in the TNT drama Hawthorne.
Pinkett Smith first met actor Will Smith when she unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in his TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The two tied the knot in 1997, and now have two children, actors Jaden and Willow.
- Glow Award, Best Voice Performance - Female, 2004 (for Enter the Matrix)
- AIAS Award, Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Female, 2004 (for Enter the Matrix)
- NAACP Image Award, Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, 2009 (for Hawthorne)
FILM:
- Menace II Society (1993)
- The Inkwell (1994)
- Jason's Lyric (1994)
- A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994)
- Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
- The Nutty Professor (1996)
- Set It Off (1996)
- Scream 2 (1997)
- Woo (1998)
- Return to Paradise (1998)
- Blossoms and Veils (1998)
- Bamboozled (2000)
- Kingdom Come (2001)
- Ali (2001)
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
- The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
- Collateral (2004)
- Madagascar (voice, 2005)
- Reign Over Me (2006)
- The Women (2008)
- The Human Contract (2008)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (voice, 2008)
TELEVISION:
- Hawthorne (regular, 2009-present)