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Jada Pinkett Smith is a versatile actress whose film career has been on the fast track since her debut in Menace II Society. She most recently provided the voice of Gloria in the animated comedy Madagascar and co-starred with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in the dramatic thriller Collateral, for which she earned her sixth NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. She also starred in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the back-to-back sequels to the original blockbuster The Matrix.

In 2002, she played the role of Muhammad Ali's first wife, Sonji, co-starring opposite her real-life husband, Will Smith, in the biopic Ali. Pinkett Smith had earlier been recognized by critics for her work in Bamboozled, for director Spike Lee.

In 1996, she earned two Image Award nominations -- one for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for her work in Set It Off, in which she starred with Queen Latifah and Vivica A. Fox, and another for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie for her role in the acclaimed drama If These Walls Could Talk. That same year, she received praise for holding her own against Eddie Murphy when she starred in Tom Shadyac's smash hit comedy The Nutty Professor.

A native of Maryland, Pinkett Smith studied dance and acting at the Baltimore School of Arts and the North Carolina School of the Arts. Her big break came in 1991 when she landed a regular role on the long-running NBC series A Different World. After two seasons on the show, she made her feature film debut in 1993's acclaimed urban drama Menace II Society, which also marked the directorial debut of Allen and Albert Hughes.

The following year, Pinkett Smith starred in three feature films: The Inkwell, Doug McHenry's Jason's Lyric, and Keenen Ivory Wayans' comedy A Low Down Dirty Shame. Her additional film credits include the horror film Demon Night, Wes Craven's hit horror sequel Scream 2, the title role in the independent film Woo, and the comedy Kingdom Come, with LL Cool J and Whoopi Goldberg, which reunited her with Doug McHenry. Pinkett Smith also had a cameo role as a young journalist in the harrowing drama Return to Paradise, starring Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, and Joaquin Phoenix.

Pinkett Smith is currently in development on two half-hour comedies, one for the CW and the other for ABC. Also in development is a medical drama set at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for CBS. Previously, Pinkett Smith served as the co-creator and executive producer on the UPN series All of Us. Pinkett Smith can next be heard on the big screen reprising the role of Gloria in Madagascar 2.

On stage and in the recording studio, Pinkett Smith fronts the rock band Wicked Wisdom.