Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)

Will Smith
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air character
First appearance	"The Fresh Prince Project"
Last appearance	"I, Done (Part 2)"
Portrayed by	Will Smith
Information
Family	Vy Smith-Wilkes (mother) Lou Smith (father; only seen once) Phillip Banks (uncle) Vivian Banks (aunt) Hilary Banks (cousin) Carlton Banks (cousin) Ashley Banks (cousin) Nicky Banks (cousin) Helen Smith (aunt) Janice Smith (aunt) Fred Wilkes (stepfather) Lisa Wilkes (former fiance/stepsister)

William "Will" Smith (portrayed by Will Smith) (born July 3, 1973) is a fictional character in the NBC television series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The character of Will Smith is loosely based on the life of his actor of the same name (although in the show 'Will' is short for William, while in reality it is short for Willard). Smith's charming and mischievous personality earned him the nickname "Prince," which eventually became "Fresh Prince". Smith became a successful rapper, but lost most of his money because of poor budgeting. When NBC signed Smith up for the sitcom, he was almost bankrupt, and it immediately launched his acting career.

The premise of the character of Will, and of the show in general, is outlined in the opening theme. Will is a street-smart and laid-back West Philadelphia teenager. After Will gets into a fight his mother sends him to live with his wealthy aunt and uncle (Vivian and Phillip Banks) in Bel-Air.

Following Will's arrival in Bel-Air, he was a great distance from home and was considered an outsider by many people in his Bel-Air neighborhood. Early on, he had a picture of Malcolm X on his wall. He often disagrees with his cousin Carlton, whom he sees as not quite "black" enough because he doesn't talk in the fashion like other blacks from his perspective. Despite their differences, Will grows extremely close to the Banks family. Will was often depicted as being immature, egotistical, and hedonistic. He was a frequent womanizer who shows more interest in his own personal pleasures than his academic studies, although at times he has shown surprising moments of intelligence and academic success; in fact, he got the highest score on his S.A.T. scores and was offered a scholarship to Princeton but turned it down. Will is, however, good-hearted and never means any malice. He had more negative actions because of his immaturity and lack of foresight, rather than unkindness. In the show, Will's age changes very slowly throughout the series; for the first three seasons, he is said to be 17 and does not turn 18 until the fourth season, and was 19 by season five; however this would eventually contradict the season one episode "Lucky Charm", in which Will says his birthday is July 3, 1973 (given that Will doesn't turn 20? He goes to Vegas on Carlton's 21st. He would have to be twenty one. until the sixth and final season, which aired during the 1995–96 television season). Although he often teases the Banks, especially Carlton and Philip, he cares for them deeply and always tries to make up for what he does wrong. He is closest to Ashley, (who said himself in "Will Gets A Job", that if he had a choice in which of Uncle Phil's children he'd be like it would be Ashley, seeing as it's her that he has the most influence on in the show) who admires Will and is more understanding of the different lifestyles they have.

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