Oscar-winning actor Will Smith says he came frighteningly close to dying while scuba diving beneath the ice at the North Pole for his new adventure series. The 57-year-old recounted the harrowing incident on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week.
Smith described going under a thick layer of Arctic ice with a professional crew as part of filming Pole to Pole With Will Smith, a Disney+ and National Geographic series. “We went scuba diving at the North Pole, right? So we did a dive under the ice,” he told host Jimmy Fallon. “The ice can be up to 10 feet thick. We went out about 40 yards… it’s like an upside-down ice mountain range, right?”
Just minutes in, things took a dangerous turn. “We went under, and I start hearing, ‘Abort dive! Abort dive! Abort!’” Smith recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ right?”
As he tried to ascend, Smith said he struck the ice and momentarily panicked. “I was like, ‘Oh no, Will, calm down. Calm down,’” he said. “You have a tether on, and you have to pull yourself back to the hole. I grabbed and accidentally pulled my mask off.”
From Terror to Spiritual Beauty
The actor said he managed to quickly affix the mask again and fight rising panic. “I was like, ‘If I get out of here, I’m only gonna do Black stuff from here on out,’” Smith joked, drawing laughter from the studio audience. “I promise, Lord! African American behavior from here on out!”
His safety line eventually saved him. “I felt somebody grab my tether up top and start pulling,” he said. Once he knew he was safe, Smith said his fear shifted. “When I realized I was good, I just relaxed and I looked around,” he said. “The sun was coming through the ice and it went from terror to the most spiritual, beautiful thing.”
Despite the close call, Smith said he felt gratitude and awe in that moment beneath the ice.
Producers say the series captures Smith’s journey around the globe, highlighting diverse cultures and dramatic natural settings. In one Amazon sequence, Smith joined indigenous guides hunting an anaconda as part of a conservation project. “They take a scale from the anaconda and test it to be able to use it in court,” he said. “I don’t know why they needed me!”