Smith: Obama will change the world

Will Smith is overjoyed Barack Obama is to take the reins at the White House next week - because America's first black president will "change the world forever".

The 'I Am Legend' star has been a passionate supporter of the Democrat and appeared in a star-studded public service announcement advert to encourage people to go the polls.

He was delighted to see Obama elected in November and views the historic appointment as life-changing.

He told GMTV: "It's not just revolutionary, it's evolutionary. Never before in the history of the planet has someone, a group of people, moved from the slave class of empire to be elected to the top spot."

And Smith will always look back on the day Obama was elected with fond memories - it brought his whole family together to witness the momentous occasion.

He told the BBC: "It's just such a huge moment for America and for the world, it's something I believed was real and possible for so long. I carried myself around the world in that way as if it could be true, possible, so there's a deep truth in me that was validated on (election day) November 4.

"We watched it together as a family. With my kids it was no big deal, whereas for myself and for (wife) Jada, and even more so for our parents, who lived through the struggle for equality, it was so huge, but for our kids the world is different.

"(The world) has changed forever. The ideas and the fibres that are created for America have never been more true than today."