Biography

Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (born July 8, 1998) is an American actor, rapper, singer and songwriter. He is the son of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith. Jaden Smith's first movie role was with his father in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness. He also acted in the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, and was in the 2013 film After Earth with his father. In 2017, he released the studio album Syre to be followed by Syre: The Electric Album later in 2018.

Early life

Smith was born July 8, 1998 in Malibu, California, the son of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith. He has an older half-brother, Trey Smith (born 1992), and a younger sister, Willow Smith (born 2000). Smith attended New Village Leadership Academybefore being homeschooled by his parents.

Smith and his siblings were youth ambassadors for Project Zambi, which provides assistance in conjunction with Hasbro for Zambian children orphaned by AIDS.

Career

Acting

Smith made his major role debut in the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness as Christopher, the son of Chris Gardner, Will Smith's character. For his role, Smith won the award for Breakthrough Performance at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Smith next appeared as Jacob in the 2008 Scott Derrickson science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 classic of the same name.

In 2010, along with Jackie Chan, Smith starred in The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 film. In May 2013, Will Smith and Jaden starred together, playing father and son, in After Earth. In 2014, it was announced that Smith will return for the sequel Karate Kid 2 with Jackie Chan. The movie will be directed by Breck Eisner, produced by James Lassiter and Will Smith and written by Zak Penn.

In April 2014, Smith was cast in the film The Good Lord Bird, which is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by James McBride. Smith plays Henry Shackleford, a young slave living in Kansas Territory in 1857 who encounters abolitionist John Brown. Smith took a break from acting following the release of his mixtape, Cool Tape Vol. 2 to focus on music, returning to act in Netflix original, The Get Down in 2017. Smith also had a voice acting role in Neo Yokio and a role in Nashville as himself.

Smith has returned to acting in films with the announcement of a film based on skateboarding. Smith will also act in the 2018 film Life in a Year alongside Cara Delevingne.

Music

In 2010, Smith rapped alongside Canadian singer Justin Bieber in the song "Never Say Never." The song peaked at 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 5x platinum in the US.

On October 1, 2012, Jaden released his first mixtape, The Cool Cafe. Smith released the sequel to The Cool Cafe on November 8, 2014, titled Cool Tape Vol. 2.

Smith started work on his debut studio album in 2014, a process that took three years. Smith announced in December 2016 that his debut studio album would be titled Syre. The first single from Syre, "Fallen" was released on 5 December 2016, two more singles were released, "Batman" and "Watch Me" on July 14, 2017. The album was released on November 17, 2017. "Icon" was released as a single on the same day and reached no. 3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

Smith announced his second studio album, Erys on December 14, 2017. The album was later renamed Syre: The Electric Album.

Smith's influences include are Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Kurt Cobain and Tycho. Speaking on his inspirations, Smith said "Kurt Cobain inspired me. Kid Cudi inspired me, Kanye. All of my homies inspired me. But the biggest inspiration in my life would be Kid Cudi and Tycho." Smith also considers his father, Will Smith, as an inspiration saying "He started in music and transitioned to movies. I started with movies, and then I transitioned into making music – I look at him and use it as a blueprint of how good of a person he is, but not necessarily the success that he reached."

Other work

Smith started his own clothing/lifestyle brand called MSFTSrep. The range includes hoodies, t-shirt, trousers and vests. In May 2013 Smith collaborated with a Korean designer, Choi Bum Suk, to create a pop-up store in which customers can buy clothes with their collaborated logos.

Smith raised controversy in 2016 after modelling in a womenswear campaign for Louis Vuitton wearing a skirt. Explaining his choice to wear a skirt, Smith said he was attempting to combat bullying, saying "In five years, when a kid goes to school wearing a skirt, he won't get beat up and kids won't get mad at him." Smith continued to wear womenswear throughout the rest of 2016. Smith was the first male model to model women's wear for Louis Vuitton.

Smith is a partner in spring water company Just Water.

Personal life

Smith's father, Will, revealed that his son sought an emancipation ruling, with the consent of his parents, as a 15th birthday present. Will revealed to the media that Smith's primary motivation is the establishment of his own residence and also explained that his children are not subject to strict parenting conduct: "We generally don't believe in punishment. From the time Jaden was five or six we would sit him down, and all he has to do is be able to explain why what he did was the right thing for his life." However, Smith and his father appeared together on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on May 15, 2013, and Smith said:

The thing that people don't get is everything at his house is free. So I can get anything and everything at his house, so I'm going to be there for 20, 30 more years. He says that as soon as I have a movie that's bigger than one of his movies I can get my own house.

In June 2017, Smith moved out of his parents house into a $4 million home in Hidden Hills.

In 2013, Smith raised controversy when he criticized traditional education and advised people to drop out of school. Talking about teenagers who go to public school, Smith said "kids who go to normal school are so teenagery, so angsty."

Smith dated Sarah Snyder from 2015 to 2017. The two broke up after "growing apart" amid cheating rumors. Snyder inspired numerous songs on Smith's debut album, Syre.