“It’s unrealistic to walk in a room and flip a switch and lights come on. That’s unrealistic. Fortunately, Edison didn’t think so. It’s unrealistic to think that you’re gonna bend a piece of metal and fly people over an ocean in the metal. That’s unrealistic. But fortunately, The Wright brothers and others didn’t believe that” – Will Smith

Born Willard Christopher Smith Jr, in (as the famous television show theme truly states) West Philadelphia, is now known as the most powerful actor on then planet according to Newsweek.

This Weeks Inspirational Celebrity: Will Smith

Can you remember what your first introduction to Will Smith was? I can recall way back in the day, a music video titled “Parents Just Don’t Understand” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince popping up all over MTV and Much Music. I wasn’t sure what it was but knew that I liked it. If that wasn’t your first introduction to him, then I’m sure it was the ever popular television show: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. On air for years, we got to enjoy this comedy about a troubled teen going to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Bel Air to try and live a better life. There’s no need going into any deeper explanation because we all know the show. Either way, we now knew who Will Smith was.

Incase you have never seen/heard “Parents Just Don’t Understand”, watch below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW3PFC86UNI

Will Smith, the rapper and sitcom comedian was an actor we enjoyed but never really seen him getting out of his genre. His character on the show was to be smooth, goofy, and funny but little did we realize that why the character was perceived like that, is because Will Smith played it so well. It was only till the clip below, did we see a different side of Will Smith and thought, “wow, maybe there’s more to this guy than we realize”.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MROibblbxks

After the shows end, Will Smith would go on to star in Hollywood blockbusters such as: Independence Day, Men In Black, Enemy of the State, Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness and I am Legend just to name a few. So did he know someone in the industry to land all these jobs? Was he just lucky? No. I find Will Smith extremely inspirational because I can relate to him and hope by sharing this post, you might be able to as well.

As I said, I want to focus these posts on what these celebrities are doing outside of their lives that have allowed them to reach such levels of success. Will Smith has a never give up/die trying attitude, coupled with his work ethic, it’s no wonder why he’s one of Hollywoods most successful actors of all time.

“I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out worked” – Will Smith

Watch the video clip below and just take in his attitude on life. This is a side most of us have probably never seen of Will Smith. His desire to succeed is like no other. If he ever stops making movies, he can always be a motivational speaker. If the video below is the only thing you watch in this post, then my job here is done. It’s the most important part of the entire article.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPTTN8WZ7kM

It’s so refreshing to see somebody with Will Smiths status using his celebrity for more than free swag and sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. Everything he mentioned in the previous clip is what led him to get to where he is today. It’s people like him that use his world wide platform to spread the message to people like me and I hope that with Monsters vs Me, I can spread it an even bigger audience. This post doesn’t need a lot of words to describe on why he is such an inspirational celebrity as the previous video shows you.

There could not have been a better person to play the role of Chris Gardner in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Both real life Chris and Will share the exact same view of the keys to success.

Not only is he driven to be successful, he is also quite intelligent. Watch as Will solves a Rubix Cube in under a minute.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUncHGvBuks

I hope you enjoyed seeing a different side of Will Smith. He is a huge inspiration in my life and just like I wrote about Conan last week, Will is one of the few celebrities I would love to meet and have a five minute chat with. Thank you Will.

Next Weeks Inspirational Celebrity: Steve Jobs