What martial arts does Will Smith know?

Like many Hollwood actors, Will Smith has dabbled in the world of martial arts over the years. This may sound a bit intense at first for an actor, but it’s actually quite common. The reason for this is that if you do hundreds of roles throughout your career, there’s a chance you may need to learn a bit of martial arts at some point. Therefore, from time to time these actors train a bit. Usually, this is only a light introduction but certain actors eventually grow into the martial arts lifestyle and truly embrace it.

Interestingly, Will Smith was almost cast in the role of Neo in The Matrix but declined the role. This would have probably changed his career path, but would have also meant his character of Neo would have learned literally all the martial arts in the world. Instead, Will Smith is known more for Hitch or Hancock these days. Read on for more information on what martial arts Will Smith uses.

Tai Chi

Once, Will Smith was asked by a reporter about his martial arts training. Here, Smith replied by saying he and his wife Jada did Tai Chi, which he jokingly referred to as ‘Kung Fu for the over 40s’. There’s probably an element of truth to this as Tai Chi is known for being more of a gentle, light martial art compared to the others. Whilst some have questioned whether it’s good for self defense, it’s undeniably good in terms of exercising your body in a calm, gentle way.

As a result, many people turn to Tai Chi later in life to help improve their balance and flexibility. It’s not known how long Will Smith has trained Tai Chi for though and due to his busy schedule, he probably doesn’t have that much time to train.

Will Smith can’t box

In March 2022, Will Smith infamously got into a physical confrontation at an awards ceremony with Chris Rock. After Rock made a joke about Jada Smith’s alopecia, Will responded by literally coming onto the stage and smacking Rock. This was cross between a slap and a punch and was thrown like a hook. Even though Will Smith was physically much bigger than Chris Rock, it didn’t really move him much and failed to put him to the floor. Although startled, Chris Rock managed to survive the sucker punch and was ok.

This shows us two things. Firstly, Will Smith’s punch lacked significant power. Whether this was done on purpose to avoid knocking out Chris Rock is unknown. However, if this was as powerful as Will Smith can punch, then his technique is poor. Secondly, whilst he threw the punch he left his head unguarded by his other fist. This is a classic boxing, rookie mistake which can get you knocked out by a counter punch. Of course, you wouldn’t expect Chris Rock to be the next Floyd Mayweather, but against a bigger, game opponent this could have landed Will Smith in trouble. Besides, a true martial artist would never sucker punch someone in the first place.

His son Jaden Smith knows Karate

Perhaps the most famous Smith family member when it comes to martial arts is his son, Jaden Smith. In 2010, Jaden starred in the remake of the Karate Kid movie as Dre Parker. Understandably, he trained a bit of Karate to get used to the role. In the film, you can see Smith practicing Karate kicks, blocks, and general moves. Of course, there’s a big difference between being able to do this in a scripted movie and in real life.

Having said this, he would have at least done some Karate training in preparation. Sadly, Jaden Smith never pursued Karate whilst filming was over and instead has looked at different hobbies and interests as he’s gotten older.

Conclusion

Whilst it would be unfair to label Will Smith a martial artist, it is fair to say that he knows a bit about fighting. This is from his background in Tai Chi. At the same time, he looks like someone that’s never really thrown a punch before which is understandable considering he’s been an actor for most of his adult life. In other words, Will Smith isn’t really known as a tough guy but he clearly isn’t afraid of getting physical at times.

In conclusion, Will Smith has dabbled in Tai Chi and his son has briefly trained Karate. Other than this, there isn’t much in terms of a martial arts history in his family and he isn’t much of a fighter.