Twenty years after his first selection, Will Smith at long last won his first Oscar – granted for the best actor in the main role for his depiction of Richard Williams, the dad of tennis geniuses Venus and Serena.
The success was eclipsed by the episode before in the evening, when Smith went up in front of an audience and seemed to go after moderator Chris Rock after the entertainer made a dig about his significant other, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her shaved head. (Pinkett Smith has been public about her alopecia, a condition that causes balding.)
After Smith sat down once more, he furiously hollered at Rock two times to “keep my significant other’s name out of your f***ing mouth.”
Smith’s exhibition in King Richard was his third Oscar designation, after Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. Lord Richard is the history of the Williams sisters.
Smith, who has said that he needed to make this film to respect the Williams family, saw his own dad in the job he needed to play.
In an interview with NPR, Smith said he arranged for the job by talking and dressing the part. “It seems like a joke, yet when I put on those short-shorts on, I got it: ‘Goodness stand by a second – he believes he’s fly!”
Smith has won a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, a Critics Choice Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for this job.
Smith began his acting career on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990 and has become one of the most productive entertainers of his age.
