Will Smith’s best performances that probably should have won Oscars

polygon.com:

Will Smith has been nominated for three Best Actor Oscars in his illustrious career, the latest being for his performance as ultimate tennis dad Richard Williams in King Richard(which also earned him his first Best Picture nomination as a producer). Smith is the rare bona fide movie star, a crowd-pleaser who has delighted audiences in a variety of roles for decades. It is frankly bizarre that he has never won an Oscar — King Richard follows Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness as his acting nominations, and we’ll see Sunday night if that translates to his first win.

What better opportunity to travel throughout his illustrious career and highlight some of our favorite performances? From his early roles to latest triumphs, here’s our rundown of some of his best work.

This is one of the earliest possible glances at the sheer charisma that made Smith into the movie star he is today. He plays a charming young con man who tricks a wealthy Manhattan couple (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland) by claiming to be a friend of their children and, daringly, the son of Sidney Poitier. Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play that was itself inspired by a real story, the movie earned Channing an Academy Award nomination. If you ask me, Smith deserved one here, too, bringing the movie to life in every single scene. —Pete Volk

Six Degrees of Separation is available to watch on HBO Max.

Yes, this is not a movie, but some performances transcend categories (and he could have easily won an Emmy). Smith’s entire run on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air deserves mention — his natural charm does a lot to keep that show as fun as it is — but this episode is one of the most highly regarded in the series, for good reason. When Will sees his