Key Takeaways
- Colman Domingo recalled attending Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School with Will Smith, telling Friends Keep Secrets, “He was the cool kid” while Domingo considered himself “nerdy.”
- The actors shared gym and science classes but never became friends, as Smith built large following as The Fresh Prince and performing with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
- Domingo last saw Smith while waiting tables at Philadelphia’s El Torito, where they hugged after reconnecting.
Colman Domingo shared the hallways of Overbrook High School with fellow actor Will Smith when the two were teens.
While visitng Benny Blanco and Lil Dicky’s Friends Keep Secrets, the actor recalled what it was like going to school with Smuth,
Around the four-minute mark of the video below, Domingo admitted that he and the future Academy Award winner "were never friends.” “He was the cool kid and I was like the nerdy [one],” Domingo continued. “I was trying not to get beat up the whole time."
Smith, who graduated from Overbrook in 1986, was just one year ahead of Domingo, as listed in the Philadelphia Tribune. Domingo told the Friends Keep Secrets crew that he and Smith had gym and science class together. The actor also explained that Smith, then known as The Fresh Prince, was well-known around West Philadelphia for being in a rap duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
“He was a local rapper, and he and Jazzy Jeff, they would do shows at the Wynn Ballroom and all the cool kids went. I didn't go because I wasn't a cool kid. I heard about it,” Domingo added, also sharing that Smith dated his friend Gina.
The last time Domingo and Smith encountered each other, Smith had already relocated to Los Angeles as a successful actor and artist, but had briefly visited Philadelphia. At the time, Domingo was working at Mexican restaurant El Torito as a waiter.
"‘Hi, what can I get you? Would you like... the burrito special?’" Domingo remembered asking Smith, who looked at him like he was "somewhat familiar.”
"I'm like, well we went to high school together. He's like, ‘Oh man, we did. Hey, hey, how you doing?’ And we hugged and that was it."
In all the years since, the performers haven’t seen each other again. "The weirdest thing is throughout our careers now I've never run into him," Domingo said, calling it "really rare and weird, ‘cause we work with the same people."
“I mean, I'm sure we'll see each other at some point and you know there'll be warmth and a shared history from Philadelphia,” Domingo said.
During an episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast earlier this year, Domingo remembered Smith as a “cool kid” who was “very friendly.”
