Djimon Hounsou
American postcard by Fotofolio, no. F 419. Photo: Herb Ritts. Caprion: Djimon, Three-quarter nude, Profile, Hollywood, 1989.
American, Benin-born actor Djimon Hounsou (1964) began his career as a model and dancer in music videos. As an actor, he had his breakthrough in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997) and Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000). He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004 for his supporting role in In America (2002) and again in 2007 for Blood Diamond (2006).
Djimon Gaston Hounsou was born in Cotonou in the West African country of Benin in 1964. His parents were Albertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Paris (IMDb writes Lyon) with his brother, Edmond Hounshou, when he was 12 (some sources say 13). Soon after arriving there, he dropped out of school and became homeless. He spent several years living on the streets of Paris until he was discovered by chance at the age of 22 by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. Mugler encouraged Hounsou to pursue a modelling career and used him for many of his advertising campaigns. Some of his pictures appeared in Mugler's illustrated book, 'Thierry Mugler Photographs'. Hounsou also collaborated with the renowned photographer Herb Ritts, who was known for his black and white photographs and portrayed Hounsou in his photo book 'Men and Women'. His modelling led him to acting. Hounsou first came into contact with film in 1988 through director David Fincher. Fincher used him as a dancer in three of his music videos: Steve Winwood's ‘Roll with It’, Madonna's ‘Express Yourself’ and Paula Abdul's ‘Straight Up’. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. He largely overcame the language barrier by watching English-language TV documentaries. Thanks to an appearance in Janet Jackson's music video ‘Love Will Never Do Without You’, Hounsou came to the attention of agents and casting directors. Guest roles in TV series followed, including as a bouncer in the series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Hounsou made his film debut in the comedy Without You I'm Nothing (John Boskovich, 1990) as the ex-boyfriend of lead actress Sandra Bernhard. After Jonathan Kaplan's drama Unlawful Entry (1992) with Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta, he landed a major supporting role as Horus Wache in Roland Emmerich's Science Fiction film Stargate (1994), alongside Kurt Russell and James Spader. Hounsou was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role leading role as Cinqué in Steven Spielberg's historical drama Amistad (1997). The film tells the true story of the revolt of Africans in 1839 on the slave ship La Amistad. They overpower the crew and force the helmsman to set sail for Africa. However, they are tricked and arrive in the United States. The role for which the actor learnt the African language Mende to appear more authentic marked his breakthrough in Hollywood. Hounsou continued to act in major productions but was subsequently subscribed to supporting roles, especially in English-language films. According to Wikipedia (German), this was mainly due to his strong linguistic accent.
Apart from films, Djimon Hounsou appeared several times in television series. He played Mobalage Ikabo, a Nigerian refugee illegally travelling to the USA, in six episodes of the medical series ER (1999). Hounsou portrayed corrupt arms dealer Kazari Bomani in three episodes of Alias (2003-2004) alongside the title heroine Jennifer Garner. In the cinema, Hounsou became even better known as the fearless warrior Juba in the box-office hit Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000). Juba befriends the title hero, Maximus (Russell Crowe), who is bent on revenge. Two years later, Hounsou played the role of Abou Fatma, the saviour and companion of Lieutenant Faversham (Heath Ledger), in the literary adaptation The Four Feathers (Shekhar Kapur, 2002). In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film In America (Jim Sheridan, 2002), making him the first black African to receive an Oscar nomination. The film is about an Irish immigrant family starting a new life in New York. Alongside Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton, Hounsou plays the embittered painter Mateo, who has withdrawn from the outside world due to his HIV infection and finds new courage to face life after meeting the Irish family. In America ultimately failed to cash in on any of its three nominations. In 2007, Hounsou was again nominated for an Oscar for Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick, 2006), in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio. The film title refers to diamonds mined in war zones and sold in support of these conflicts. Hounsou plays a poor fisherman who gets caught up in a conflict with diamond smugglers during the civil war in Sierra Leone. In 2010, he took on the role of Caliban in Julie Taymor's Shakespeare adaptation of The Tempest. In the film, he acted alongside Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina and Chris Cooper. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he portrayed Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014), Captain Marvel (Anna Roden, Ryan Fleck, 2019) and the animated anthology TV series What If...? (2021). In the DC Extended Universe, he appears as the Fisherman King in Aquaman (James Wan, 2018) and as the wizard Shazam in Shazam! (David F. Sandberg, 2019), Black Adam (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2022) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (David F. Sandberg, 2023). Hounsou made his directorial debut with the documentary film In Search of Voodoo: Roots to Heaven (2018), which examines the history, nature and religious practices of West African Vodun. In 2005, Hounsou travelled to Mali with the development aid organisation Oxfam to gain an impression of the living conditions of the people there, which are characterised by poverty. Since then, he has been an ambassador for Oxfam. In 2008, Hounsou married Japanese-American actress and model Kimora Lee through an African rite. Together, they had a son, Kenzo Lee Hounsou, in 2009. Hounsou and Simmons, who were never legally married in the United States, announced their separation in 2012. In 2025, Djimon Hounsou claimed that, throughout his career, he has encountered challenges like those experienced by other Black actors in Hollywood, including being typecast. He said he was always getting "unfair compensation." Hounsou blamed systemic racism for this predicament, saying that, despite having been twice nominated for an Academy Award, he is still "struggling financially to make a living."
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Djimon Hounsou
American postcard by Fotofolio, no. F 419. Photo: Herb Ritts. Caprion: Djimon, Three-quarter nude, Profile, Hollywood, 1989.
American, Benin-born actor Djimon Hounsou (1964) began his career as a model and dancer in music videos. As an actor, he had his breakthrough in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997) and Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000). He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004 for his supporting role in In America (2002) and again in 2007 for Blood Diamond (2006).
Djimon Gaston Hounsou was born in Cotonou in the West African country of Benin in 1964. His parents were Albertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Paris (IMDb writes Lyon) with his brother, Edmond Hounshou, when he was 12 (some sources say 13). Soon after arriving there, he dropped out of school and became homeless. He spent several years living on the streets of Paris until he was discovered by chance at the age of 22 by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. Mugler encouraged Hounsou to pursue a modelling career and used him for many of his advertising campaigns. Some of his pictures appeared in Mugler's illustrated book, 'Thierry Mugler Photographs'. Hounsou also collaborated with the renowned photographer Herb Ritts, who was known for his black and white photographs and portrayed Hounsou in his photo book 'Men and Women'. His modelling led him to acting. Hounsou first came into contact with film in 1988 through director David Fincher. Fincher used him as a dancer in three of his music videos: Steve Winwood's ‘Roll with It’, Madonna's ‘Express Yourself’ and Paula Abdul's ‘Straight Up’. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. He largely overcame the language barrier by watching English-language TV documentaries. Thanks to an appearance in Janet Jackson's music video ‘Love Will Never Do Without You’, Hounsou came to the attention of agents and casting directors. Guest roles in TV series followed, including as a bouncer in the series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Hounsou made his film debut in the comedy Without You I'm Nothing (John Boskovich, 1990) as the ex-boyfriend of lead actress Sandra Bernhard. After Jonathan Kaplan's drama Unlawful Entry (1992) with Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta, he landed a major supporting role as Horus Wache in Roland Emmerich's Science Fiction film Stargate (1994), alongside Kurt Russell and James Spader. Hounsou was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role leading role as Cinqué in Steven Spielberg's historical drama Amistad (1997). The film tells the true story of the revolt of Africans in 1839 on the slave ship La Amistad. They overpower the crew and force the helmsman to set sail for Africa. However, they are tricked and arrive in the United States. The role for which the actor learnt the African language Mende to appear more authentic marked his breakthrough in Hollywood. Hounsou continued to act in major productions but was subsequently subscribed to supporting roles, especially in English-language films. According to Wikipedia (German), this was mainly due to his strong linguistic accent.
Apart from films, Djimon Hounsou appeared several times in television series. He played Mobalage Ikabo, a Nigerian refugee illegally travelling to the USA, in six episodes of the medical series ER (1999). Hounsou portrayed corrupt arms dealer Kazari Bomani in three episodes of Alias (2003-2004) alongside the title heroine Jennifer Garner. In the cinema, Hounsou became even better known as the fearless warrior Juba in the box-office hit Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000). Juba befriends the title hero, Maximus (Russell Crowe), who is bent on revenge. Two years later, Hounsou played the role of Abou Fatma, the saviour and companion of Lieutenant Faversham (Heath Ledger), in the literary adaptation The Four Feathers (Shekhar Kapur, 2002). In 2004, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film In America (Jim Sheridan, 2002), making him the first black African to receive an Oscar nomination. The film is about an Irish immigrant family starting a new life in New York. Alongside Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton, Hounsou plays the embittered painter Mateo, who has withdrawn from the outside world due to his HIV infection and finds new courage to face life after meeting the Irish family. In America ultimately failed to cash in on any of its three nominations. In 2007, Hounsou was again nominated for an Oscar for Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick, 2006), in which he co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio. The film title refers to diamonds mined in war zones and sold in support of these conflicts. Hounsou plays a poor fisherman who gets caught up in a conflict with diamond smugglers during the civil war in Sierra Leone. In 2010, he took on the role of Caliban in Julie Taymor's Shakespeare adaptation of The Tempest. In the film, he acted alongside Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina and Chris Cooper. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he portrayed Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014), Captain Marvel (Anna Roden, Ryan Fleck, 2019) and the animated anthology TV series What If...? (2021). In the DC Extended Universe, he appears as the Fisherman King in Aquaman (James Wan, 2018) and as the wizard Shazam in Shazam! (David F. Sandberg, 2019), Black Adam (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2022) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (David F. Sandberg, 2023). Hounsou made his directorial debut with the documentary film In Search of Voodoo: Roots to Heaven (2018), which examines the history, nature and religious practices of West African Vodun. In 2005, Hounsou travelled to Mali with the development aid organisation Oxfam to gain an impression of the living conditions of the people there, which are characterised by poverty. Since then, he has been an ambassador for Oxfam. In 2008, Hounsou married Japanese-American actress and model Kimora Lee through an African rite. Together, they had a son, Kenzo Lee Hounsou, in 2009. Hounsou and Simmons, who were never legally married in the United States, announced their separation in 2012. In 2025, Djimon Hounsou claimed that, throughout his career, he has encountered challenges like those experienced by other Black actors in Hollywood, including being typecast. He said he was always getting "unfair compensation." Hounsou blamed systemic racism for this predicament, saying that, despite having been twice nominated for an Academy Award, he is still "struggling financially to make a living."
Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.