Will Smith is like Cher, he never seems to age, so this has a lot of people wondering how old he was in The Fresh Prince and how old he is now.
Over the course of his career, Will has starred in more than 76 TV shows and movies – he’s even won dozens of awards and an Oscar in 2022 for his role in the movie King Richard.
But there is one show the 54-year-old actor will be linked to forever, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
How old was Will Smith in the Fresh Prince?
It’s been 32 years since The Fresh Prince first hit television screens and Will landed at the Banks’ household aged only 17 with his bag in hand after his mother shipped him away from trouble – well, if the rap is anything to go by.
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Born in September 1968, Will was only 22 years old when The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired in 1990. But, it’s likely he was 21 when the process of filming the series started.
In the show, Will played a fictionalized version of himself who was born working class but was sent to live with his upper-class family. The show also starred Will’s real-life best childhood friend DJ Jazzy Jeff as “Jazz”, Will’s on-screen best friend.
The American sitcom ran for six seasons until its final episode date in May 1996 and finished up with eight awards – including the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Top TV award in 1994.
How old is Will Smith now?
Smith turned 54 years old in September 2022 and has come a long way since the young man who rapped about moving from Philidelphia – although, he still did rap for several movies he starred in, including Men In Black and Wild, Wild, West.
Among the dozens of movies Will has starred in, he also has a successful career as a producer. Back in the 90s he was the executive producer for The Fresh Prince and in 2022 it was confirmed he is the exec producer of the show’s re-boot, Bel-Air.
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The TV show is based on a fan film more dramatic re-imagining of the NBC sitcom, by the show’s creator Martin Cooper, and was picked up for a second season, by Peacock, set to air in 2023, Deadline reports.
In the 32 years since the show first aired Will has been married twice – first to Sheree Zampino and is now married to Jada Pinkett Smith – and had three children, Trey, Jaden and Willow.
Are Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff still friends?
Will and Jazzy Jeff were more than just childhood friends and co-stars in The Fresh Prince, they were also a hip-hop duo under the name DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.
The group received their first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989 for Parents Just Don’t Understand, however, their most successful single was Summertime (1991), which earned the group their second Grammy and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Are they still friends all these years later? Absolutely, it seems Jazz and Will will always be each other’s ride-or-die. After the incident at the Oscars – when Will slapped Chris Rock for making a comment about Jada – Jazz came out and said his longtime friend had a “lapse in judgment”.
In his statement, he showed he still has Will’s back after all these years.
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