What Is Will Smith’s Net Worth? The Oscar Winner Is Hollywood Royalty

For more than 30 years now, Will Smith has reigned over Hollywood as one of the most beloved stars of music, TV, and especially movies. He has won over the hearts of millions with his winning smile, his comedic timing, and his incredible ability to stir up emotions and bring characters to life. A Grammy winner and Emmy and Oscar winner, Smith has succeeded in almost every entertainment medium there is, and his ambitious nature has him always aiming higher.

In addition to being incredibly talented, Smith is rich. He regularly commands more than $10 million every time he appears on screen, and there have been several years when he was declared the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Alongside his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and his children, Trey, Jaden, and Willow, he heads a family that is already something of a dynasty, with each member being hugely successful in their own right.

7 Ways Will Smith Has Made His Vast Fortune

1. Film

Smith has money coming in from quite a few businesses and activities, but he has made the bulk of his many, many millions from acting in big-budget films. He has managed to maintain his status as one of the biggest box office draws in the world for decades, and he has even broken records and made history with never-before-seen paydays on several occasions. He started with what are now considered modest sums (but which are still more than some people will earn in a lifetime), and he quickly became one of the top earners in Hollywood.

Here’s a look at how much Smith has made from some of his most popular films throughout the decades.

1990-1999

• Made in America - $100,000
• Bad Boys - $2 million
• Independence Day - $5 million
• Men in Black - $5 million
• Enemy of the State - $14 million
• Wild Wild West - $7 million

2000-2009

• The Legend of Bagger Vance - $10 million
• Ali - $20 million
• Men in Black II - $20 million (plus a percentage of grosses)
• I, Robot - $28 million
• Shark Tale - $15 million
• Hitch - $20 million
• Pursuit of Happyness - $71 million ($10 million base pay plus a percentage of grosses)
• I Am Legend - $25 million
• Hancock - $20 million (and a percentage of grosses, perhaps totaling more than $100 million)

2010-2019

• Men in Black 3 - $100 million ($20 million upfront and $80 million afterward, as he earned 10% of grosses)
• Suicide Squad - $20 million
• Bright - $27 million
• Aladdin - $20 million ($12.5 million upfront plus a percentage of grosses)
• Gemini Man - $12.5 million

2020-Present

• Bad Boys for Life - $17 million
• King Richard - $40 million
• Bright 2 - $35 million
• Emancipation - Smith’s next starring role is in the slavery-era action/drama Emancipation. His salary hasn’t been reported, but Apple purchased the title for a whopping $120 million. As the star and owner of the production company behind it, Smith is surely making tens of millions.

2. TV

Before he became a movie star, Smith’s big acting break came in the form of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran on NBC from 1990 until 1996. He was reportedly paid $2.8 million for the first three seasons of the show, which averages out to about $38,000 per episode, or just under $1 million per season. Unfortunately, Smith apparently didn’t get to take much of that money home; at the time, he reportedly owed the IRS quite a bit in back taxes. Some sources suggest he had to pay the government agency as much as 70% of that until his debt was gone.

In the decades since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air concluded, Smith has not starred in another scripted series. Instead, he’s produced a handful of titles, most notably UPN’s All of Us, which ran for several seasons. That show was co-created by Smith and his wife, and he even co-wrote and directed a few episodes. He’s also co-produced scripted programs like Cobra Kai and Women of the Movement, earning what must be healthy paychecks for all of them.

Recently, Smith has been executive producing and hosting docuseries, which put him back in front of the camera, but not really as an actor (at least in the traditional sense). He has tended to focus on adventure and travel programs such as One Strange Rock, Will Smith’s Bucket List, Will Smith: Off the Deep End, Best Shape of My Life, and Welcome to Earth. In 2022, National Geographic announced Smith will star in Pole to Pole, which will “follow Smith and his film crew as they go on a 26,000-mile trek from the South Pole to the North Pole, crossing all of Earth’s biomes and spending time in communities along the way,” according to an announcement published in The Hollywood Reporter.

3. Music

Smith has been so successful as a movie star for so long that it’s almost easy to forget that for more than a decade, he was regarded as one of a few rappers who enjoyed crossover mainstream success. He got his start as one-half of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (which is where the name of his sitcom came from). They charted four top 40 hits and sold millions of singles and albums. After releasing five albums as part of a duo, Smith went out on his own and enjoyed even greater success. As a soloist, he scored three top 10 albums, two No. 1 singles and half a dozen top 40 wins, including smashes like “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” “Wild Wild West,” and “Switch.”

Combining his output as part of a pair and on his own, Smith has moved a certified 17.5 million albums and 5 million singles in the United States alone, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He has seemingly racked up more than 1 billion plays on Spotify, as several of his songs have earned hundreds of millions of streams, with the singer and rapper earning small royalties from all those clicks. It’s rumored that Smith made $10 million from his early music career and that he blew through it quickly, per Parade. He has been nominated for eight Grammys and won half of them, including the first-ever Best Rap Performance trophy in 1989 for “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

4. Endorsements And Business Ventures

For nearly a quarter of a century, Smith has had a hand in crafting major motion pictures both as an actor and a producer, mostly through his production company Overbrook Entertainment. Since the firm was founded in 1998 by Smith and his producing partner James Lassiter, it has backed Smith-starring projects like I Am Legend, Hancock, Seven Pounds, and Bright, as well as titles he didn’t appear in, such as To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Harder They Fall, Charm City Kings, and The Secret Life of Bees. As a partner (alongside Lassiter and his wife), he brings home money when the company is successful.

Smith has also used his vast fortune to invest in products and startups, increasing his income. He has spent untold millions investing in firms like BioBeats, Carol’s Daughter, Chromatik, Fancy, and Julep. Usually, the amount he chose to hand over wasn’t made public, and he is often joined in these ventures by fellow stars, including Jay-Z, who has partnered with the actor several times. Smith even helped his son Jaden launch Just Water, an eco-friendly water brand, when he was just 12. What role he plays (or played) has not been defined publicly, but the company is now worth more than $100 million.

5. Social Media

Several years ago, Smith didn’t just sign up for social media; he made a major play for dominance on many of the top global platforms. He clearly works with a team that helps him create content, and he is very active on the biggest sites. He has amassed millions of followers on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok especially, and he reportedly earns money for his posts. As one of the more popular celebrities on the short-form platform TikTok, Smith takes home $21,000 per branded upload, according to Man Of Many.

6. Books

Throughout his years as a superstar, Smith has published two books, and they couldn’t be more different from one another. He started in publishing in 2001 with Just the Two of Us, a children’s book that borrows its name from one of his biggest songs. It was a sweet affair that shows the important bond between fathers and sons. Two decades later, he returned with the simply-titled Will, a memoir he wrote with The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck author Mark Manson. The title quickly became a New York Times bestseller, and while no official comment was given about the advance he received, celebrity memoirs often involve multimillion-dollar deals.

7. Real Estate

Smith and his family reportedly own about $100 million worth of homes all around the world, and while they seem to hold onto their properties, the actor has scored at least one major payday associated with real estate. The Hancock powerhouse and his wife sold a mansion in Kauai, Hawaii, for a cool $20 million after purchasing it for just $13.5 million years prior, earning themselves at least $6.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. They also sold another spot in the same state for $12 million, though it’s not clear how much profit they made in that deal.

What Is Will Smith’s Net Worth?

$350 MILLION

Smith is one of the richest actors in the world, and he has long ranked among the wealthiest stars. Currently, Celebrity Net Worth pegs his total net worth at $350 million, and that sum is bound to climb in the coming years. Forbes reported in 2020 that in the year prior, he had earned another $44.5 million, a massive sum to collect in such a small period of time.