Young and up-rising American actor, Justice Smith hit the screens and in a short time began making a significant impact on the industry. Widely known for his role in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Smith has shown he has something to offer the world, as far as acting is concerned. His role in Pokéman’s 2019 live-action film, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu sure added more feathers to his cap.
Justice Smith Bio
Justice Elio Smith was born on August 9, 1995 in Los Angeles, California in the United States. He is one of eight children. His siblings comprise three brothers – Wayne Jr., Richard, and Mark Cruz, and four sisters – Camero, Victoria, Felicia, and Adrienne.
Justice Smith is an American by birth but of mixed ethnicity. He sometimes reveals the difficulties his mixed ethnicity often poses when it comes to acting roles. Smith pointed out that he is not black enough for the black roles, and not white enough for the white roles. It’s therefore always difficult to for him to suit appropriately into available roles.
Justice developed a love for acting at a very tender age. He first acted in a kindergarten play of Three Billy Goats Gruff. He later appeared in an Apple commercial at the age of 15. To make his dreams come true, he attended the Orange School of Arts, where he majored in acting, graduating in 2013.
Smith made his debut movie appearance in 2012, starring as a schoolboy in Trigger Finger. Two years later, he debuted on television playing as himself in an American documentary television series, Masterclass. A more significant role soon followed with Nickelodeon’s comedy television series The Thundermans where he starred as Angus. Within the same period, Smith also appeared on YouTube channel show, Vlogbrothers.
In 2015, Justice Smith got his second movie role in 20th Century Fox’s romantic mystery comedy-drama, Paper Towns where he played Marcus “Radar” Lincoln. Smith landed his first lead role in 2016 in Netflix‘s musical drama series The Get Down. The 2016 TV series became his breakthrough as it brought him forth into the limelight. In 2017, he appeared in the Off-Broadway stage production of Yen by Anna Jordan shown at the Lucille Lortel Theater from January to March 2017.
In February 2018, Smith starred as Justin alongside lead actor Rhiannon in the romantic fantasy film, Every Day. A few months later, he landed a major role in the science fiction series, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The 2018 adventure movie sold very well and became Smith’s big break as it shot him to international fame.
Late in November 2018, The Pokémon Company announced that Smith will star alongside Ryan Reynolds in their 2019 film, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. He played Tim Goodman, a 21-year-old son of Harry Goodman in. Coincidentally, Justice Smith had been a staunch Pokémon fan together with one of his sisters in their childhood days. It never occurred to him then that he would grow up to become a Pokémon actor!
Justice Smith is dating an up-coming pop singer, Raffaella Meloni. The duo has been going out together since 2016. Raffaella released her debut music video titled “Sororicide” in March 2018.
Who Are His Parents
Justice Smith is the son of Wayne Smith and Duilia Setacci Smith. His father, Wayne is an African-American while his mother Duilla is of Italian and French-Canadian descent.
Both parents of Justice Smith are singers and were active in the entertainment industry. This explains why Smith developed a liking for entertainment (acting) at a very young age.
Is He Related To Will Smith?
Justice Smith has the same surname as the award-winning American actor, comedian, and rapper, Will Smith. However, they are not at all related biologically. Also considering that they share the same profession, he had always been mistaken to be Will’s son.
Rumors of the supposed biological relationship became rife in 2016 when Will Smith’s son, Jaden Smith who is also an actor co-starred with Justice Smith in Netflix’s The Get Down. Many thought that Jaden and Justice are brothers and both Will Smith’s sons. When Justice could no longer stomach the claims, he took to Twitter to clear the confusion. Below is a screenshot of his 2016 tweet.
Despite his explanations, people have continued to link Justice Smith to Will Smith, especially those who never saw his tweet. And there must be thousands of them. Whatever the case, we do not believe that Justice Smith is losing anything for being linked to Will Smith. It should rather be helping his growing career considering Will Smith’s milestones in the entertainment industry.
