Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith attended Baltimore School for the Arts before making her film debut in 1993’s Menace II Society. After directing and starring in a series of music videos — including those of her former classmate and close friend Tupac Shakur — Pinkett Smith starred in 1996’s The Nutty Professor and Set It Off.

The actress starred in The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and Collateral (2004) and voices Gloria in the Madagascar franchise. She directed her first feature film, The Human Contract, in 2008. Pinkett Smith has also starred in Magic Mike XXL (2015), Bad Moms (2016) and Girls Trip (2017).

Pinkett Smith married Will Smith in 1997. The couple share son Jaden Smith, born in 1998, and daughter Willow Smith, born in 2000. In 2023, Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Will separated in 2016 but had no plans to divorce.

Pinkett Smith hosted Red Table Talk with her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and Willow. The talk show premiered in 2018 and has earned Pinkett Smith several NAACP Image Awards and a Daytime Emmy. Pinkett Smith released her memoir, Worthy, in 2023.