Pinkett Smith Donates $1 Million to Alma Mater

Zap2It.com | December 12, 2006

Jada Pinkett Smith

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Actress wants to honor her late rapper friend

Jada Pinkett Smith, whose husband Will Smith stars in "The Pursuit of Happyness," is spreading some happiness of her own.

The actress has donated $1 million to the Baltimore School for the Arts in honor of her late friend Tupac Shakur, report news sources. Both Pinkett Smith and Shakur were classmates together at the school.

"It means a lot when you're a teacher and your most famous alumnus comes back to give a donation," says Donald Hicken, the actress' former theater instructor and the head of the school's theater department. "It really says a lot to the community that the school matters in people's lives."

Although she wanted the new theater named for Shakur, the school plans to name it for Pinkett Smith. The funds will mainly be used for renovation and expansion. The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation has previously given $112,500 to the school.

Rapper Shakur died in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

"Happyness" opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, Dec. 15. Pinkett Smith and her husband also currently have script commitments for sitcoms at the CW and ABC.

Pinkett Smith, 35, has appeared in "Menace II Society," "The Nutty Professor" remake, "Bamboozled," "Ali," the second and third "Matrix" films, "Collateral" and "Madagascar." Her 9/11 drama "Reign O'er Me" will hit theaters in spring 2007.