Biografie

In his personal life, he goes by the name Todd.

He has been on Def Jam Records longer than any other artists from its start in 1985 to the present.

He has played the same character (Sam Hanna) in four different series within the JAGverse: Navy CIS (2003), Navy CIS: L.A. (2009), Hawaii Five-0 (2010) and NCIS: Hawai'i (2021)>.

LL Cool J stands for "Ladies Love Cool James."

Has four children (one boy and three girls): Najee (b. 1989), Italia (b. 1991), Samaria (b. 1995), and Nina Simone (b. 2000).

Keeping it real ain't about carrying a gun or smoking blunts. It's about being true to yourself and those around you.

"Rollerball sucked!" - discussing one of his movies on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Am I James Todd Smith now or LL Cool J? Pick a name baby. Pick a name and ride with it. I don't wanna abandon my identity as LL Cool J, but at the same time, I had to figure out how to let people know that I'm really serious about making these movies. You know when you do 25 or 30 movies and people are still asking you 'how does it feel making the transition?' you know you're not communicating correctly. So I just put the James Todd Smith thing there to let people know I was serious. It's not like I made it Lawrence Cool J or something!.

Hip-hop can be limiting and I refuse to accept limits. I've been training as an actor for six years. Nobody goes to acting school for six years. I mean, the college course is only four years! I absolutely trained. My acting coach is from the Stanislavsky school. It's real - I act.

I'm happy to be black. I am what I am, I'm doing very well in my life, and I'm thankful to God for that. I am a real person that cares about his art and cares about what he's doing - I have a heart and a soul and want to touch people and give. As a black man, my hope is that I can touch more and more people all over the world of different races and different colours. And I think eventually, if I just stay on this path, we'll get there.