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VetFamily: Will
Smith 
Military
Vision for Career & Family Success By Roy Asfar,
Special to Veterans Advantage
 Will Smith is considered A-list material by
millions. He's an award winning actor and musician.
He's got an Air Force lineage, but West Point
considers him one of its own, too. Ultimately,
he thanks his Veteran father for giving him the discipline
and optimism that led to his success.
Will was born and raised in Philadelphia, the
son of Caroline, a school administrator who worked
for the Philadelphia school board, and Willard
Christopher Smith, Sr., an Air Force Sergeant
who later started his own business as a refrigeration
engineer.
Smith's charming and
sly demeanor in school resulted in the nickname "Prince",
which eventually turned into the "Fresh
Prince," the persona which landed him his
first break as a rap singer, in partnership with
Jeff Townes (a.k.a. D.J. Jazzy Jeff), whom he
met at a party.
And despite his parents' divorce when he was
13, his family upbringing continues to influence
the life he seeks for his own family.
Father's Military Family Influence
"I was raised in a military household because
my father was in the Air Force. We had to make
the hospital corners on our beds, and I want
to have some of those elements as a father. I
want my kids to be disciplined and focused," he
told the London Independent.
He brings a military approach
to his marriage, too, to actress/singer Jada
Pinkett-Smith his wife since of ten years. "I focus on my
relationship with Jada like a soldier. You've
got to work at it. When we're together, I'm her
mate, I'm her security guard, I'm her cook. I'm
everything. I get turned on by working 16 hours,
then completely drained coming in the house and
taking the baby for an hour from her; that makes
me feel strong. You have to focus on everything
in your life with that type of military intensity."
Smith also passes on his father's influence
to his children through chess.
"My father taught
me how to play chess at seven and introduced
beautiful concepts that I try to pass on to
my kids. The elements and concepts of life
are so perfectly illustrated on a chess board.
The ability to accurately assess your position
is the key to chess, which I also think is
the key to life."
"Whatever move
you're going to make in your life to be successful,
you have to accurately access the next couple
of moves - like what's going to happen if you
do this? Because once you've made your move,
you can't take it back. The universe is going
to respond."
Show Business
The "move" that set his future in motion
was rap music. "I told my parents I wanted
to rap. They said, 'Rap?' My mother graduated
from Carnegie Mellon (and she was encouraging
him to go to MIT). She thought college was the
only way," he told Reader's Digest. "My
father could kind of see doing something differently.
We agreed that I would take a year making music,
and if it did not work out, I would go to college.
That year we won the first Grammy given to a
rap artist."
And from there, movie stardom soon took over.
By 1996, Smith began a successful solo music
career while simultaneously starring in a series
of films. The first two films were hugely successful
summer blockbusters: Independence Day (1996),
in which he played a fearless fighter pilot,
and Men in Black (1997), where he played the
comic and confident Agent J against Tommy Lee
Jones's deadpan Agent K. Smith's acting in Men
in Black won critical praise.
West Point Praise
and Beyond
It's
a path that's already garnered him two Best Actor
Oscar nominations,
 WILL
SMITH as Robert Neville and WILLOW
SMITH as Marley in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and
Village Roadshow Pictures’ sci-fi
action adventure “I Am Legend,” distributed
by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo by
Barry Wetcher, SMPSP |
as well as other industry
honors. And just last month, Smith was named
the first winner of the Cadet Choice Movie Award,
which was designed to honor the fictional character
that best personifies West Point leadership
qualities on the silver screen. His role in "I
Am Legend," which
is currently being released to DVD landed him
the special honor.
Smith's
character in the film, Army virologist Dr.
Robert Neville, is the lone survivor of a zombie-making
virus that devastates Manhattan. His nomination
and award cites the Neville role for "value-based
leadership."
What's next? Believe it or not, Smith is confident
enough to see a presidential run in his future.
"I
always wanted to be the first black president
but Barack Obama stole my idea. That's OK with
me. Barack can go first and then I'll take
my turn."
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