Birth Date: October 31, 2000
Birth Place: Los Angeles, California
You may know Willow Smith from acting alongside her famous father, Will Smith in the movie I Am Legend, but (just like her dad) this nine-year-old can do more than just act, and recently released her first single Whip My Hair on Jay-Z’s music label Roc Nation.
A Star is Born
Willow is the daughter of actor/rapper Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett Smith, and is fast following in her parents’ famous footsteps. She’s been cast in movies with her dad and, at just nine years old, won the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film for her role as Countee Garby in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.
All in the Family
Willow and her older brother, actor Jaden Smith, are both youth ambassadors for Project Zambia, which helps children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.
Music Matters
Willow thinks her record deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label is a result of “all my hard work paying off.” Her video for Whip My Hair leaked onto the Internet on September 7, 2010, and went viral in no time.
But Willow thinks part of her success may also have to do with her lucky number, 44: “I was sitting at the piano, and I just picked it at random. I thought, 'Taylor Swift has one, why not me?” Little did she know, the number four has some significance for Jay-Z and his sweetie Beyonce, whose birthdays are both on the fourth, as well as their anniversary. But according to Jay-Z, Willow’s success has nothing to do with luck: “I believe in superstars. I believe in big records and superstars, and I think she has both.”
Little Known Fact
If the first time you listened to Whip My Hair you thought that voice sounded familiar, you have recognize Willow’s tones from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, in which she voiced the character of baby Gloria.
Related Stories
- Will Smith Bio
- Jaden Smith Bio
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Movie Review
- Kit Kittredge: An American Girl Movie Review
