Introduction

Standing at only 5" tall, Jada Pinkett-Smith is making a big dent on the entertainment industry. She silently crept on the scene taking bit roles in television shows and movies until her big break in the early '90s. She has done numerous films that have done well at the box office and with which women can mostly identify.

"I am ambitious. I don't know why people are afraid to say so...I want little pieces of the world." --Jada

Jada Koren Pinkett was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 18th of September 1971 to parents Robsol Pinkett Jr. and Adrienne Banfield. While studying music and dance during her upbringing, she attended Baltimore's School of Arts, where one of her classmates was Tupac Shakur. Upon completion, she decided to further her studies at the North Carolina School of the Arts facility.

This step in her life was cut short after only a year, however, when she decided to speed up the process and take her chances by moving to Los Angeles. Her ultimate goal was to pursue a career in acting.

Once settled in Los Angeles, Jada began making contacts and frequented several Hollywood hotspots with the intentions of catching her first big break. This came about when she encountered Keenan Ivory Wayans, who at the time was doing well with his TV series, In Living Color. Although Keenan chose not to take Pinkett under his wing, he managed to help her along the way towards stardom by hooking her up with an agent.