Fresh on the A-List

Will Smith stands in front of the camera, the epitome of “Reservoir Dogs” cool, wearing a stylish black suit, starched white shirt, black tie and customized Ray-Ban sunglasses.

“You know what the difference between you and me is?” Smith, as Agent J in the hit sci-fi comedy “Men in Black,” asks his identically dressed co-star, Tommy Lee Jones. “I make this look good.”

The 28-year-old Smith could just as easily be talking about his career instead of reciting a line from a script. At this moment, the spectrum of popular entertainment looks good on Will Smith.

On the strength of two box-office blockbusters--last year’s “Independence Day,” which grossed $306 million domestically, and this summer’s “Men in Black,” which has earned $150.1 million through Wednesday--Smith has quickly transformed himself from TV sitcom star to A-list movie actor.

He now commands at least $12.5 million per picture, with producers throwing his name in the ring along with Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage and a short list of other actors who compete for Hollywood’s hottest scripts.

After portraying a gay con-artist in 1993’s “Six Degrees of Separation,” Smith next co-starred with Martin Lawrence in the 1995 police action-comedy “Bad Boys,” which became a surprise hit.

His next film will likely be Touchstone Pictures’ $80-million spy-thriller “Enemy of the State” for director Tony Scott. And Smith also is rumored to be joining Barry Sonnenfeld, his director on Columbia Pictures’ “Men in Black,” in a remake of the ‘60s hit TV western-comedy series “The Wild, Wild West.”

With projects swirling around him on the film front, Smith’s recording career is also getting back on track.

After settling a breach-of-contract suit with Jive Records earlier this year, Smith has signed a multi-album deal with Columbia Records, and will work with hot producers TrackMasters Poke and Tone. And he has a current hit, the pop-rap single “Men in Black,” from the film’s soundtrack, which is the No. 1 album in the country.

But Smith’s meteoric rise has not been devoid of struggle and, as an African American actor, some say he could one day walk a tightrope if his box-office drawing power begins to sag.

“He is not Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger,” said veteran talent manager Delores Robinson, who is African American. “Suppose [Smith] decides to go into a small, interesting movie next, or his box office doesn’t do as well the next time? Then we will get articles that say, ‘Can Will Smith sustain it?’ It will happen faster to him then somebody else who is white. How many opportunities has Kevin Costner had?”

With two blockbusters under his belt, Smith now joins an elite group of African American actors who include comedian Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington, who despite much critical acclaim, has not yet broken through as a marquee name who can open a film.

How has Smith managed to do what few others have? “He’s likable--he’s everybody,” one veteran industry insider said. And audiences find him accessible; while he’s undeniably handsome, “he has those funny ears that stick out. But at the same time, he’s one of the most likable people.”

And that appeal has taken him on a seemingly unprecedented upward spiral. What could be harder than pulling off three successful careers--rap artist, TV sitcom star, movie actor--in less than 10 years in the business?

Neither Smith nor his Handprint Entertainment staff of Benny Medina and James Lassiter would comment for this article; Smith is in Europe to promote the film, and a spokeswoman said he preferred not to comment on business aspects of his career. Interviews with people in music, television and films, however, are genuinely positive when his name is mentioned.

“He embodies the American Dream,” says writer and producer Dean Devlin, who picked Smith to play Marine fighter pilot Steven Hiller in last year’s “Independence Day.”

“Here’s a guy who as a teenager from Philadelphia says, ‘I want to be a rap star’ and becomes one--and wins a Grammy,” Devlin said. “Later, he says, ‘I want to be a TV star,’ and people say, ‘No, you can’t,’ and he becomes a big-time TV star. Then he said he wanted to be a movie star and, sure enough, he pulls it off. If this guy says he wants to be president of the United States, watch out. It just may happen.”

But despite “Independence Day,” Smith still had to persuade some in the film industry that he was the real thing.

Smith was not the first choice to co-star in “Men in Black,” according to a source close to the production. Other actors--Brad Pitt, Woody Harrelson and Chris O’Donnell--were all considered first.

Smith’s mix of overwhelming confidence balanced with humility attracted “Get Shorty” director Sonnenfeld for “Men in Black.”

“Some people are just born with it, and it’s rarer than you think,” Sonnenfeld said. “Warren Beatty is like that, where when you’re in the same room with him, you find yourself wanting to become a part of his conversation, to find out what’s going on. That self-confidence allows him an ease that makes you grab onto his character.”

Willard Smith Jr. has always been a natural. A hyperactive kid who his mother claims could talk before he could walk, he learned from a tender age how to bridge the gap between two separate realities of white society and black urban cool.

Born in Philadelphia, Smith was raised in a comfortable and loving yet disciplined environment that stressed eloquence, hard work and intellect.

Smith had hoped to become a computer engineer, but when a rap song he recorded with childhood friend Jeff Townes (the locally famous DJ Jazzy Jeff), “Girls Ain’t Nothing but Trouble,” was picked up by Jive Records in 1986, Smith was shipped off to London to record an album.

That song put Jazzy Jeff and Smith, as the Fresh Prince, on the rap map and introduced them to Def Jam Records/Rush Artist Management impresario Russell Simmons.

“Will and Jeff were the first rappers I ever met who called me Mr. Simmons,” the hip-hop mogul says with a laugh. “They say, ‘Keep it real,’ but Will has always kept it honest. That’s what always impressed me. Rappers, even the nice ones, have an attitude that if you mess with me I’ll knock you out. But in ‘Girls’ there’s a moment when Will describes a moment when someone punches him in the eye and when an instigator asks him how he reacted, he says, ‘I grabbed my eye.’ That made him a superhero in my eyes, that he could admit that he wasn’t the toughest man on the planet. Authenticity always shines.”

When the subsequent albums, 1987’s “Rock the House” and 1988’s “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper” came out, that authenticity captured both the imagination of urban America and suburban mall rats. His video for the song “Parents Just Don’t Understand” made the duo a multi-platinum success, and they became the first rappers to receive a Grammy.

His videos attracted the attention of television producer Medina, who was looking for someone to star in a sitcom about a fast-talking, streetwise kid who suddenly moves in with a wealthy family, and how both parties find their lives transformed.

After an impressive audition for Quincy Jones and NBC’s brass, a deal for “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was hammered out, and the last-minute entry in 1990 soon became a steady Nielsen performer at the network the next six seasons.

From TV, Smith has managed the difficult task of crossing over into movies. With “Bad Boys,” “Independence Day” and “Men in Black,” Smith is definitely on a hot streak.

“I’d love to work with him again if I can still afford him,” joked producer Devlin.

Smith and his live-in love, actress Jada Pinkett, meanwhile, have sold a script called “Love for Hire” to Imagine Entertainment, a project in which Smith would star.

“Will is just charmed,” said Brian Grazer, a partner at Imagine. “I think it’s fair to say that Will Smith is one of the biggest stars in the world. I find him to be very smart, a long-term player. One year he’ll do big commercial hits and in others he might go for an Oscar and win one. He’s smart about how he treats his career, and his management team [Medina and Lassiter] are solid guys themselves. I believe in those guys.”

Columbia Records President Don Ienner believes Smith “still has some great hip-hop records in him.”

“The only thing this kid wants is a chance at bat at whatever he does,” Ienner said, “and he always knocks it out of the park. I haven’t seen anyone with this type of conviction for many years, and he’s a chameleon who can develop audiences both in the street and in the mainstream.”

But those who have known Smith during his various ups and downs, like Simmons, think that success has been better the second time around for Smith.

“I think he’s happier now,” Simmons said. “He’s always been gracious. . . . He’ll never have the same problems as Eddie Murphy, that he’s too vain to make fun of himself. He’s always gonna take this whole thing with grain of salt.”

Added Simmons: “I bet you he wakes up every morning giggling.”