The Pursuit of Happyness
The story of Chris Gardner.
Chris Gardner and his downfall.
- Chris Gardner, as a young adult, invested all of his money into bone density scanners.
- Unable to sell enough of these to keep his family financially stable, he is scraping up every single penny he can to make ends meat to keep his family housed and fed.
- Unhappy with the way things were going, his wife leaves him and his son.
2006 - The Pursuit of Happyness was released by Relativity Media and Overbrook Entertainment.
Life today in America is just like this for thousands upon thousands of people. Homelessness in America today is becoming a serious epidemic.
Will Smith and Jaden, his son.
Chris Gardner and Will Smith.
Chris Gardner, Jaden Smith, and Will Smith.
An Overview on Chris Gardner
June 8, 1977- Chris married Sherry Dyson. Their marriage began failing whenever he mentioned wanting to abandon his dream of becoming a doctor. Their son Christopher Jr. was born on January 28, 1981. This gave their marriage some hope. Gardner's job as a research lab assistant was only making his family $8,000 per year. Definitely not enough for his family to live off of. After a few months of job searching, he landed a job as a medical equipment salesman.
After some time working as a salesman, he had saved up enough money to take him and his son to Louisiana to meet his father for the first time.
A very pivotal moment in Gardner's life occured during a salescall at the San Francisco General Hospital whenever Gardner saw a very well-dressed man, later finding out his name was Bob Bridges, step out of a Red Ferrari. Gardner asked the man what he did for a living and the man told him he was a stockbroker. It was at this time that Gardner really knew what he wanted to do with his life.
For two months, his car collected parking tickets upon parking tickets upon parking tickets. After some time, Gardner was arrested for having over $1,200 in parking tickets. He was arrested and made to serve ten days in jail.
Gardner returned from jail to an empty apartment. With no experience, no college education, virtually no connections, amd wearing the same thing he had been wearing ten days earlier- he gained an unpaid, training position in Dean Witter Reynolds' stock brokerage program. He made around $300/$400 per month selling left over medical equipment. He was unable to meet his living expenses. Living him and his son, Christopher, homeless.
Olivia Bailey
Email: Okbaile1@stu.k12.wv.us
Location: Nitro, WV, United States
Phone: (304)-755-4321
Twitter: @livkathleen