As a child, I watched 'Dallas' and that was my vision for my life for as long as I could remember.
When I was growing up, I installed refrigerators in supermarkets. My father was an electrical engineer.
Goofy was the word that was used most often by my sisters because I've been this tall ever since I was 12 years old.
The first time that I performed as an actor was the first day on the set of 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.'
I love being black in America, and especially being black in Hollywood.
If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don't think there's anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States.
I try to speak my points of view about black America, and how I feel about black men and the role that black men should play in their lives with their children and in their lives with their women.
My first record came out while I was a senior in high school, which is dangerous.
It's quite highly possible that I have peaked. I mean, I just can't imagine what else I could do beyond this. It's really a bittersweet kind of feeling.
I love producing. I am loving doing that. I think that is my most natural space in the business. I just love producing or editing and that's where I thrive.
I've never really viewed myself as particularly talented. I've viewed myself as slightly above average in talent.
Well, all I know is what I read in the papers.
I'm a student of world religion, so to me, it's hugely important to have knowledge and to understand what people are doing.
I had to focus and create a character in Bagger Vance, not just do my 'Will Smith' thing and get paid.
I don't necessarily believe in organized religion.
I mean, I'm very serious with my kids about them comprehending the intricacies of global finance.
I had a hit single on the radio for 30 days before I graduated from high school.
A rapper is about being completely true to yourself. Being an actor is about changing who you are.
My skin is hard when it comes to my music. But with my movies, I'm still a virgin in a lot of ways. I'm not used to being shot down for no reason.
I've trained myself to illuminate the things in my personality that are likable and to hide and protect the things that are less likeable.
I'm a student of patterns. At heart, I'm a physicist. I look at everything in my life as trying to find the single equation, the theory of everything.
I want the world to be better because I was here.
So if you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready, and that is how I run my life.
My school was 90 percent white, but 90 percent of the kids I played with were black. So I got the best of both worlds. I think that is where my comedy developed.
I was raised in a Baptist household, went to a Catholic church, lived in a Jewish neighborhood, and had the biggest crush on the Muslim girls from one neighborhood over.
There's so much negative imagery of black fatherhood. I've got tons of friends that are doing the right thing by their kids, and doing the right thing as a father - and how come that's not as newsworthy?
When you create art, the world has to wait.
And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy's sleeping? I'm working.
For me, there is nothing more valuable than how people feel in a movie theater about a movie.
I've viewed myself as slightly above average in talent. And where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic.
Life is lived on the edge.
Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests - not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life.
I don't know what my calling is, but I want to be here for a bigger reason. I strive to be like the greatest people who have ever lived.
If you're not willing to work hard, let someone else do it. I'd rather be with someone who does a horrible job, but gives 110% than with someone who does a good job and gives 60%.
You can cry, ain't no shame in it.
In my mind, I've always been an A-list Hollywood superstar. Y'all just didn't know yet.
I have a great time with my life, and I wanna share it.
Whatever your dream is, every extra penny you have needs to be going to that.
We all want to be in love and find that person who is going to love us no matter how our feet smell, no matter how angry we get one day, no matter the things we say that we don't mean.
I've always considered myself to be just average talent and what I have is a ridiculous insane obsessiveness for practice and preparation.
Money and success don't change people; they merely amplify what is already there.
The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school.
The first step is you have to say that you can.
Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
In black neighborhoods, everybody appreciated comedy about real life. In the white community, fantasy was funnier. I started looking for the jokes that were equally hilarious across the board, for totally different reasons.
