WILL Smith is a very, very happy man.

Arguably one of Hollywood's nicest stars, he bounds into a London press conference with the biggest smile on his face, stretching from one large ear to another, looking genuinely pleased to be promoting his forthcoming film, Hitch.

Could the success of the movie in America be the reason behind his cheerfulness? It has, after all, smashed all box office records for the opening of a romantic comedy.

Hitch is the latest in a string of hit movies for the 37-year-old actor who has barely put a foot wrong in Hollywood since leaving hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

In fact, every film in which he's appeared has been successful, including Independence Day, Bad Boys, I-Robot and Men in Black - not a claim many actors can make. Even Ali, the movie based on boxer Mohammed Ali, which received lukewarm reviews, earned Smith an Oscar nomination for best actor.

Perhaps the only criticism he's faced has been the fact that he's always stuck to the familiar trend of agent or cop roles.

Well, now he's answering back with his first romantic comedy.

Hitch is the story of New York city date doctor employed by socially-inept men to help orchestrate their first three dates with the women of their dreams.

While helping out bumbling accountant Albert Brennaman, Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas - a gossip journalist trying to uncover who the mysterious date doctor is.

"Everybody has a quality that's loveable," says Smith. "It's about finding that quality and illuminating it.

"I did a movie that every guy has a shot at any woman and I think that's very real, I believe that."

But does he believe that every young lady is waiting to be swept off her feet?

"Absolutely. Love is the ultimate theme, but it's not just for women. I think it's also for men - it's the highest desire to which we all aspire.

"We all want to be in love and find that person who is going to love us no matter how our feet smell, no matter how angry we get one day, no matter the things we say that we don't mean. We want that person who is going to love us in spite of all those things."

His character epitomises charisma, confidence and charm, but Smith admits to not being such a smooth operator in his younger dating days.

"Goofy was the word that was used most often by my sisters because I've been this tall 6ft 2in ever since I was 12 years old. It was difficult being this tall and about half of the weight that I am now, you know? So I had that for a lot of years and, as I started to fill out, I gained a little more confidence.

"It was a difficult time growing up with women because I was hurt. I was hurt."

Sitting back and sighing, he admits: "I was about 10 years old and Stacy Brooks promised me the last dance at Shawn Hollis' birthday party and I was prepared. I was there and ready for that last dance, and the DJ announces that this is the last song and I turn around and she's on the floor with David Brandon! I've been scarred since that moment. But hey, I'm getting over it. I think I'm going to be okay."

Those dating days are now well behind him after marrying actress Jada Pinkett Smith, star of The Matrix trilogy.

Speaking about the couple's first few dates, it sounds like he could have done with some dating advice himself.

"It was one of those things where everything went perfectly - not perfectly in the sense of smooth and lovely - but everything that went wrong went perfectly wrong," he laughs.

"In the beginning of our relationship everything that needed to go wrong went wrong very quickly. We learned early on who we were and who we wanted to be and decided on a path to get there.

"Normally at the beginning of a relationship it's all flowers and butterflies but we didn't have that. I was coming out of a divorce and she was coming out of a bad relationship and there was just no time for bull. It was just blatant, hard, cold honesty and that's the basis of our relationship - harsh honesty."

The couple have been together for 10 years, but how does Jada react to seeing him in the love scenes with Hitch co-star Eva Mendas?

"That's the importance of having someone who really understands and is in the business that you do. Because she's done love scenes, she understands it's really not like it looks in the film.

"Even if you get a really passionate love scene, the director's saying 'Alright Will, move your leg over her thigh'. I'm saying 'Seriously - I know how to do this. Let me do my thing'.

"There are like 50 people around so it's just not what it looks like and she understands that. And the fact that everything with us is 100 per cent pure honesty, it makes it a lot easier.

"The thing that would make someone jealous or make someone uncomfortable in a relationship is uncertainty and we remove all the uncertainty from our relationship."

But his intimate scenes with Eva weren't the only times he had to get up close and personal with a co-star. One memorable scene has Hitch showing Kevin James' character Albert how to kiss.

"That was interesting," he recalls. "We were shooting the movie in New York a year ago, and nobody knows what the movie is at that point so there are like 250 New Yorkers standing out there as we're doing the scene.

"So this black guy walks up and he's watching and sees Kevin lean in for this kiss and he screams out, 'Brother, NO! Hell no, Will! Uh-uh, man! Don't be doing that Will! What the HELL is you doing, brother?' We had to call security to calm him down and explain that it was a movie, and he was a little more okay with it.

"With comedy, though, you can get away with anything. I'm comedically brave so I was very comfortable."