Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (born September 18, 1971) is an American actress, singer and talk-show host.

She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show Red Table Talk, for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award.

Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021.

She majored in dance and theatre and graduated in 1989.

After graduation, she spent a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Pinkett began her acting career in 1990, when she starred in an episode of True Colors.

Pinkett Smith landed her big break on the sitcom A Different World in 1991.

She received guest roles in television shows such as Doogie Howser, M.D. (1991) and 21 Jump Street (1991), and earned a role on comedian Bill Cosby's NBC television sitcom A Different World in 1991, as college freshman Lena James.

She went on to star in films such as Menace II Society (1993), The Nutty Professor (1996), Set It Off (1996), and Scream 2 (1997) before her prominent contributions to The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), and the animated Madagascar films.

In 1993, Pinkett appeared in her first film, Menace II Society.

A recommendation from her friend Tupac Shakur got her cast as single mother Ronnie.

Shakur was also set to appear in the film before he was fired.

Pinkett considered dropping out of the film after Shakur's departure but he convinced her to keep the role.

In 1994, Pinkett acted with Keenen Ivory Wayans in the action and comedy film A Low Down Dirty Shame.

She described her character Peaches as "raw" with "major attitude", and her acting garnered positive reviews.

The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Pinkett, whose performance is as sassy and sizzling as a Salt-N-Pepa recording, walks away with the movie."

In 1994, she also starred as a title character in Doug McHenry's romantic drama Jason's Lyric, opposite Allen Payne.

In his positive review of the film, Roger Ebert wrote, "[Payne] has powerful chemistry with the enigmatic, teasing, tender character played by Pinkett; they really seem to like one another, which is not a feeling you always pick up in screen romances."

That year, she also had a role in the romantic comedy-drama The Inkwell.

In 1995, Pinkett played a convict on work release in the horror film Demon Knight.

According to Larenz Tate, Pinkett was set to appear in the film Dead Presidents (1995), but she turned down the role of Delilah due to her loyalty to Shakur.

The Hughes brothers directed the film and they had fired Shakur from Menace II Society.

Pinkett also began directing music videos in 1995.

She directed the music video "I'm Going Down" by girl group Y? N-Vee.

In 2002, Pinkett Smith launched a music career as the lead singer and songwriter for the nu metal band Wicked Wisdom.

In 2005, she published a children's book, Girls Hold Up This World, which landed at number two on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Along with her husband Will Smith, she has a production company and has producing credits in films, documentaries, and television series.

She returned to television with starring roles on Hawthorne (2009–2011) and Gotham (2014–2017).

In 2010, she earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the Broadway musical Fela!.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Jada Koren Pinkett was named after her mother's favorite soap opera actress, Jada Rowland.

She is of Jamaican and Bajan descent on her mother's side and African-American descent on her father's side.

Her parents are Adrienne Banfield-Norris, the head nurse of a Baltimore inner-city clinic, and Robsol Pinkett Jr., who ran a construction company.

Banfield-Norris became pregnant in high school, and the couple married but divorced after several months.

Pinkett was raised by her mother and grandmother, Marion Martin Banfield, a Jamaican-born social worker was married to Dr. Gilbert Banfield, a family doctor.

"My grandmother was a doer who wanted to create a better community and add beauty to the world," she said.

Banfield noticed her granddaughter's passion for the performing arts and enrolled her in piano, tap dance, and ballet lessons.

Pinkett attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, where she met and became close friends with her classmate, rapper Tupac Shakur.

When Pinkett met Shakur, she was a drug dealer.

Her mother had been a heroin addict.

Her other acting roles include Magic Mike XXL (2015), Bad Moms (2016), Girls Trip (2017), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021).