Jada Pinkett-Smith- Born in Baltimore MD on September 18, 1971 is an actress, producer, singer-songwriter, and business woman. She is known for her roles in Set It Off, Ali, and the Nutty Professor. Jada graduated  from the Baltimore school  for the Arts high school majoring in dance and theatre in 1989.

After dropping out of college she moved to LA to pursue an acting career. She got her first big break on Bill Cosby’s NBS sitcom “A Different World”, playing Lena James in 1991. In January 2009, she started working on the TNT medical drama Hawthorne, in which she was executive producer and a starring cast member. In 2010 Jada won an Image award for her role in the television series “Hawthorne”.

She married actor Will Smith on January 31, 2000 in a private ceremony in Baltimore. The couple has two children together, Jaden and Willow Smith. Together with Will, Jada has created the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland, a charity which focuses on youth in urban inner cities and family support. In December 2006 she donated 1 million dollars to the Baltimore School for the Arts in memory of her good friend and classmate Tupac Shakur.