Watch Will Smith Face His Biggest Fear of the Open Seas While Diving with Sharks

"I started to realize how poisonous fear can be; it steals your ability to be able to enjoy life," Will Smith says in an exclusive clip of Shark Week special Will Smith: Off the Deep End

Will Smith is facing his fears one shark at a time.

In a PEOPLE exclusive clip of Shark Week special Will Smith: Off the Deep End, the actor, 51, gears up to take the dive of his life — all while learning valuable lessons in the process.

"God placed the greatest things in life on the other side of your biggest fears," Smith says in the clip, which features the star swimming among a variety of sea creatures — including sharks. "The ocean's alive. The ocean is moving and changing and adjusting and reacting and responding. The ocean is talking to you the whole time and you're hoping it's not saying something you don't want to hear."

Will Smith. Benjamin Lanpher

"After working on After Earth, I got introduced to that fear," he says. "I'm always running from that fear. And then I started to realize how poisonous fear can be. It steals your ability to be able to enjoy life."

In the special, produced by Westbrook Media, Smith will dive headfirst into action, excitement, and shark infested waters, as he confronts his fear of the open seas and the open jaws of nature’s fiercest predators.

Will Smith.

Shark Week 2020 is featuring more than 20 hours of shark programming stories and adventures, including Mike Tyson going head to head with some of the ocean's top apex predators (a blacktip reef shark), Adam Devine discovering a secret shark lair, and more.

The “jawesome programming schedule” kicked off with a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Air Jaws, a series of Discovery Channel films about great white sharks who soar out of the surf for food in the waters near South Africa.

This year’s Shark Week will also be exploring the effects of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the oceans.

Shark Week is airing on the Discovery Channel through Aug. 16, with Smith's Will Smith: Off The Deep End scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.