11/6/2008

Jill Marino

Mrs. Will Smith talks about family and new film.

Life at the Smiths' is a zoo. Literally.  
  
"We've got two dogs, three cats and a snake. Willow has a boa constrictor. She loves snakes," Jada Pinkett Smith said of her animal house, which she shares with actor husband Will, and kids Jaden, 10, and Willow, 8.  
  
The 37-year-old actress gets to indulge in her inner creature when her new film, *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa*, comes to theaters this Friday. She plays Gloria, a hippo, while Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, and David Schwimmer play other zoo animals.  
  
"I've always wanted more body, so it was really fantastic that I got the opportunity to play such a gloriously hefty lady," Pinkett Smith told *USA Today*.  
  
Not only was she excited to play a curvy girl; she was also thrilled to have her daughter appear in the film as well. Willow plays a younger version of the Gloria character in the movie.  
  
As for what Willow thought of voicing a character, her mom said, "It took her a minute to get used to the microphone and the fact that there wouldn't be any other actors." But, Pinkett Smith added, "She'd be so interested in the process, and it was great that she could learn the process by participating."  
  
Both mother and daughter play hippos, but is that what Pinkett Smith really wants to be?  
  
"I'd probably be a black panther, because they're very mysterious and absolutely the most breathtaking animals I've ever seen," she said.