Top star Smith replies to Elijah

Hollywood star Will Smith urged an 11-year-old boy in Dundalk to chase his dreams and make the most of every day, shocking the youngsterby replying to his letter.

The 6th class pupil was one of a number of children who wrote to people they admired. The Men in Black star is the only one to have responded so far.

The letter has made Elijah Odigie into a minor celebrity himself in Dundalk.

The warmly worded reply from the superstar made Elijah’s day.

“It means the world to me that my movies have connected with you in one way or another,” Smith said.

He told him: “I always say ‘if something I do can make someone’s day better, then I’ve done a good job!’”

In his letter, Elijah had told the star of Independence Day and After Earth, “I thought you were brilliant in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I think you are really cool.”

He also asked him which of his movies is his favourite and whether he would like to make a film in Ireland one day.

“I think you would really like it here,” the boy told him.

Elijah included his home address on the top of the letter, “in case you would like to write back to me. If you don’t it’s okay. I’m just really happy that you got to read my letter.”

The letter writing was done at the suggestion of Andre O’Connell, one of his teachers at St Nicholas’ Monastery National School in Dundalk, Co Louth.

“I was talking to the students about people we admire and we decided we would write to them. It is unusual to write letters nowadays and quite most of them were to Hollywood stars,” Andre explained.

The letters were posted from Dundalk on Oct 10 and the reply to Elijah was dated Nov 26. It came from California where Will Smith’s entertainment agency is based.

Smith, who is estimated to be worth some $200m (€145m), told Elijah: “It took a little while to get back to you, but I want to say that I appreciate you and all that you do. Keep chasing those dreams and make the most of every day. That’s what it’s about!”

The letter ends with a personal signature from the star.

It arrived earlier last week at his home address and Elijah said he was shocked but happy to get a reply.

The letter has been laminated and now has pride of place on his bedroom wall, and “Elijah has become a minor celebrity himself because of it”, his teacher said.

Meanwhile, his fellow students are on tenterhooks waiting to see if they will get replies from Tom Cruise, Chris Evans, Stan Lee, and Cristiano Ronaldo.