Will Will Smith with Mark Manson

Century £20 ★★★★☆

Will begins with our nine-year-old hero being forced by his father to build a brick wall from scratch, and ends with him at 50, bungee-jumping into the Grand Canyon live on YouTube.

Somewhere between these two life-shaping events Will Smith (below) became the hottest movie star in the world.

Launching his career in 1985 as rapper Fresh Prince, he got his break in the TV show The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air before shifting into movies. Men In Black, Independence Day, Ali and Aladdin are among his numerous smashes. He appears on the page as he does in interviews, an amiable presence with a gift for conveying cartoonish mischief – not least when he’s caught by his mother having sex in the family kitchen aged 16. Yet his laid-back public persona masks a ferocious work ethic. By his own admission, he was an ‘average talent’ who succeeded through sheer determination. Raised a Baptist, Smith had an integrated middle-class childhood, living in a black neighbourhood in Philadelphia while attending a largely white Catholic school. His fearsome father ‘Daddio’ was an alcoholic prone to physical abuse. His childhood left him needy and emotionally vulnerable; a born performer, in other words, but prone to crushing insecurities. The first rap artist to win a Grammy, Smith was a millionaire by his late teens. His party-heavy lifestyle hit a wall when the IRS demanded $1million in unpaid tax. His response was to refocus on acting. Co-author Mark Manson is a million-selling magus in the ‘personal growth’ industry, and it shows. The insistence on shackling each episode in Smith’s life to a Big Life Lesson won’t be to everyone’s taste. Mostly, though, Will is a celebrity memoir that rings true and is entertainingly told in the authentic voice of its subject.