Actor and a celebrity gambler Will
Smith lost an incredible $60,000 (£39,960) gambling while preparing for the
filming of THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE in Las Vegas. While the trip did good
things for Smith's swing, the tables were another story, Del Barrio said. After
Will Smith lost $60,000 in about 20 minutes, Del Barrio said that Smith vowed
it would never happen again. "Ron,"
he said. "I guarantee you this - you will never see me gamble again."
For the rest of that trip and during several subsequent visits to this gambling
Mecca, Will Smith actually held to his word.
About Will Smith: Rapper-turned-actor
Will Smith has become one of Hollywood's most bankable multitasks. As half of
the rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Smith found success with such
mom-friendly hits as "Parents Just Don't Understand" that appealed to
teenagers without using violent, vulgar lyrics. He branched out to TV with The
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a successful sitcom that aired for several seasons and
is still widely syndicated.
Because of this ability to both be comfortable and to make others
comfortable, he drew unanimous admiration from his peers for both his
extraordinary drive and that easygoing charm which helped him move
seamlessly between worlds. One of only three actors to star in seven
consecutive $100 million blockbusters, Smith was hailed by Entertainment Weekly
as the smartest actor in Hollywood for "achieving a level of global
popularity unprecedented for an African-American actor." Smith was under
the age of 40 when that comment was made, and still striving to achieve
his personal best in an ever-widening field of creative pursuits.
Will Smith's first steps into
super-stardom came with his next film, Bad Boys (1995). The high-budget cop
movie saw him team up with comic Martin Lawrence, breaking away from the
black-cop-white-cop formula that had been so successful for Beverly
Hills Cop and the Lethal Weapon series.
Smith fought aliens again in his
next blockbuster, the comic sci-fi action film, Men In Black (1997). Playing
opposite Tommy Lee Jones, Smith chewed up the screen as the new recruit to
Jones's old hand. Smith sang the theme song, and its inclusion on his solo
album, Big Willie Style (1997) brought the multi-talented actor another
success. Another Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster followed with the slick
conspiracy thriller Enemy of the State (1998), which earned Smith an NAACP
Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.
The string of hits came to an end
in 1999 with Wild Wild West, a sci-fi cowboy Western co-starring Kevin Kline.
Despite the film's lackluster box-office performance, the track Smith cut for
the film became a hit on his album, Willennium (1999). The golf movie The
Legend of Bagger Vance was his next big film, with Smith playing the caddie to
Matt Damon's out-of-sorts swinger.
In 2001 the biopic Ali, based on
boxing legend Muhammad Ali, saw Smith return to critical acclaim. His turn as
the charismatic boxing great saw Smith put in the performance of his life,
training and disciplining himself to extraordinary lengths to do justice to the
athleticism, and ego, of the films main character. The film under-performed at
the box-office despite a record-breaking opening day. Smith's performance,
however, was good enough to be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.