Jaden Smith

The scion of an A-list Hollywood couple -- rapper-turned-actor Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett Smith -- Jaden Christopher Syre Smith entered show business as a pint-sized child star, courtesy of his mom and dad. He began with a number of appearances on the Smith-produced sitcom All of Us (2003), then moved into film with lead billing in another effort produced by his dad, the inspirational drama The Pursuit of Happyness (2006). That feature -- a box-office and critical smash -- starred Will and Jaden as a down-on-their-luck father/son pair drawn ever closer as the father vows to work his way up the corporate ladder and dramatically improve their circumstances. Additional projects followed, including a humorous lead as a child prodigy who causes havoc when trapped in a science museum, in the family-oriented comedy Newton's Law (2008), and one of the humans who teaches alien Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) about life on Earth in director Scott Derrickson's science-fiction remake The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). Smith appeared opposite his sister, Willow, in the 2009 Amulet -- a family-oriented fantasy about two siblings who team up to save their mother from a deadly beast in an underground lair.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide