Who is Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Show

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Played by

Will Smith

First episode

“The Fresh Prince Project”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 10, 1990

Role

Lead

Network

NBC

Occupation

Teen from West Philadelphia, then college student

Show run

1990 to 1996

Also known as

The Fresh Prince, Fresh Prince, William Smith

Will Smith is the street-smart, fast-talking kid from West Philadelphia whose move to his relatives' Bel-Air mansion is the whole premise of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Played by Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, he is the charming troublemaker at the center of all six seasons.

On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith's story runs through Philip Banks (Uncle), Vivian Banks (Aunt), Carlton Banks (Cousin), Hilary Banks (Cousin), Ashley Banks (Cousin), and Geoffrey (Butler).

Who is Will Smith?

Will grew up in West Philadelphia with his mother, Vy. After a pickup basketball game turns into a scary confrontation with some local guys, she sends him across the country to live with her sister, Vivian, and Vivian's wealthy husband, Philip, in their Bel-Air mansion. The first episode drops him into a world of butlers, private schools, and country clubs, and he does not plan to change for any of it.

The Banks household gives him a second family: Uncle Phil as a strict father figure, Aunt Viv as a warm protector, and cousins Carlton, Hilary, and Ashley, plus the butler, Geoffrey. He starts at the exclusive Bel-Air Academy and later goes to college in Los Angeles alongside Carlton.

Personality and comedy

Will is cocky, quick, and allergic to rules. He wins people over with jokes, schemes his way out of trouble, and spends a lot of energy chasing girls and needling Carlton and Hilary. Smith, already a famous rapper when the show began, plays him with a loose, playful energy and frequently breaks the fourth wall with a look or a line to the camera.

What keeps Will from being just a wisecracker is the show's willingness to get serious. Episodes about racial profiling, drugs, guns, and absent fathers let Will show the hurt and loyalty underneath the jokes, and those moments are among the most remembered in sitcom history.

Key storylines

Will's most famous episode is "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse" in season four. His father, Lou, returns after 14 years, promises a road trip, and then backs out, and Will's raw, emotional reaction in front of Uncle Phil became one of the most celebrated scenes in TV comedy. In season five he is shot during a robbery at an ATM and nearly paralyzed, and he takes the gun Carlton buys afterward away from him.

His love life also builds to a near marriage. He starts dating Lisa in season five and, while recovering from the shooting, proposes. The couple tries to elope in Las Vegas, but the wedding is called off at the end of the season. In the series finale, the Banks family sells the house and scatters, and Will decides to stay in Los Angeles.

Behind the scenes and legacy

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran for six seasons and 148 episodes on NBC, from 1990 to 1996, and it turned Will Smith from a rap star into a television and then movie star. The idea grew out of music manager Benny Medina's own teenage years, and Medina pitched it to Quincy Jones, who became an executive producer and composed the show's music.

The show's theme song, which Smith performs, remains one of the most recognizable in TV history. In 2020 the surviving cast reunited for an HBO Max special that included a tribute to the late James Avery, and in 2022 Peacock launched Bel-Air, a dramatic reimagining with Jabari Banks as Will.

Will Smith: frequently asked questions

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