The Pursuit of Happyness : Differences between the film and actual events

• Most significantly, Gardner's internship was a $1,000 monthly stipend, but the film claims "there was no salary."
  
• Linda never existed. The mother of his child was "Jackie," his mistress whom he left his wife for when she became pregnant. Also, she initially took Chris Jr. away for many months before bringing him to Chris to raise. They were never married but eventually had another child together.
  
• While the film shows Chris Jr. at the age of five, he was only two years old at the time of the events of this film.
  
• Because of the age of Chris Jr., the interactions in the film did not occur. However, the scene where Chris tells him "You're a good poppa" did, in fact, occur.
  
• The Rubik's Cube incident never happened. Smith came up with that idea, because he has always been fascinated with Rubik's cubes.
  
• He actually spent ten days in jail for not paying his parking tickets.
  
• He eventually started at Bear Stearns.
  
• The actual events and his homelessness happened over the course of a few years rather than a short time as shown in this movie.
  
• He sometimes spent the night underneath his desk when the shelters were full.
  
• Gardner quit his job as salesman before entering the stock broker training program.
  
• Gardner's medical equipment was never stolen from him.
  
• In the movie Gardner states that he is from Louisiana, but Gardner is actually from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, Gardner's book indicates that his father resided in Louisiana at that time.
  
• Gardner was not hit by a car.
  
• The IRS did not seize money from Gardner's bank account.
  
• He met with the "red Ferrari" man after the initial meeting to learn more about what the job involved. It was not simply a one-minute conversation.