Will Smith is certainly one of Hollywood’s greatest actors, having appeared in countless box office hits and maintained his in-demand status across three decades of work. But for all of his success and accolades, Smith hasn’t always been happy with his job. And in a new interview, he reveals that he once completely fell out of love with acting.
In a new feature in The Hollywood Reporter’s “Actor Roundtable,” Smith opens up about a period in his life a few years ago when his world was turned upside down after realizing he didn’t love acting anymore.
“I had a brief period, four years ago. In retrospect, I realize I had hit a ceiling in my talent. I had a great run that I thought was fantastic, and I realized that I had done everything that I could do with the ‘me’ that I had. And I didn’t work for about two years, and I [went through] marriage counseling, 50 parenting books, all of that stuff,” Smith explained.
However, he shared that all of the work he was doing in his personal life finally began to pay off and he came to a powerful realization about his career.
“And I really dived into me, and then all of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh!’ And I found the connection. Your work can never really be better than you are, you know? Your work can’t be deeper than you are,” Smith said.
We’re glad that Smith was able to find a new perspective on acting that allowed him to work and make peace with his life’s direction. But that’s not all he had to say about acting. Read his thoughts on racism in the industry, after the cut.
