"Walking along a remote beach in Papua New Guinea, Shad Ellis found himself having a heart-to-heart with Will Smith, one of the most recognisable faces on the planet. The twist? The face the London Tube driver's gaze alighted on looked uncannily like his own. The 47-year-old has made a career out of being a Will Smith lookalike and tribute artist since he was 18."
"Although he now lives in Bedford, Ellis was born and raised in the capital. While the Fresh Prince famously began his story on a playground in West Philadelphia, Ellis's unfolded deep within the Underground in east London. It was 1997 and posters for Men In Black were plastered across the tube network. At Shadwell, the resemblance between the Hollywood star on the walls and the then station assistant behind the barrier was impossible for commuters to ignore."
Shad Ellis is a 47-year-old London-born former Tube station assistant who turned a resemblance to Will Smith into an international tribute career starting at age 18. In 1997 commuters at Shadwell noticed his similarity when Men In Black posters covered the network. A stranger suggested lookalike work and Ellis submitted film-camera photos to an agency, which confirmed his suitability but cautioned that only royal lookalikes earn substantial money. Within a week he gained a first job on the cover of an electrical magazine reenacting Men In Black imagery. He later travelled globally and even spoke with Will Smith on a Papua New Guinea beach about the impact of the resemblance.
Read at www.bbc.com
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