Djimon Hounsou

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Djimon Hounsou at WonderCon 2016

Djimon Gaston Hounsou (born April 24, 1964 in Cotonou , Dahomey ) is a Benin - American actor . After a career as a photo model , he came to the acting profession in the early 1990s by working as a dancer in music videos. He became known to a wide audience for his supporting roles in the feature films Amistad (1997), In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), the latter of which earned him two Oscar nominations.

biography

childhood

Born in the West African country of Benin , Djimon Hounsou moved to Paris with his family at the age of 13 . After leaving school, Hounsou became homeless and spent his life on the streets of Paris for a few years until he was accidentally discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler at the age of 22 . Mugler promoted Hounsou and used him for numerous of his advertising campaigns. Hounsou also worked as a photo model, and some of his pictures appeared in Mugler's book Thierry Mugler Photographs . Honsou also collaborated with the renowned photographer Herb Ritts , who was known for his erotic black and white photographs and who portrayed Hounsou in his illustrated book Men and Women .

Acting career

In 1988, Hounsou first came into contact with film 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 " . Although Djimon Hounsou had made a name for himself as a supermodel on the catwalks of Paris and London , he had enjoyed acting in front of the camera and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He overcame the language barrier largely by watching English-language TV documentaries. Thanks to an appearance in Janet Jackson's music video "Love Will Never Do Without You" , agents and casting directors became aware of Hounsou and guest roles followed in TV series, including in 1990 as a bouncer in the series Beverly Hills, 90210 . Hounsou made his film debut in the same year in John Boskovich's comedy Without You I'm Nothing as the ex-boyfriend of leading actress Sandra Bernhard . After Jonathan Kaplan's drama Unlawful Entry , he got a major supporting role as Horus Wache in Roland Emmerich's science fiction film Stargate , alongside Kurt Russell and James Spader .

Breakthrough in the film business

In 1997 he worked with Steven Spielberg . The renowned American director hired Djimon Hounsou for the lead role in his historical drama Amistad after Denzel Washington's rejection . In the film, the story of which is based on the true story of a mutiny by West African slaves on a Spanish slave ship, Djimon Hounsou plays Cinque , the leader of the uprising who fights for the freedom of prisoners. The role, for which the actor learned the African language Mende in order to appear more authentic, marked his breakthrough in Hollywood and he was honored with a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a drama, alongside such established mimes as Daniel Day- Lewis , Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio .

Becoming known to an international audience through his appearance in Amistad , Hounsou continued to act in large-scale productions, but was subsequently subscribed to supporting roles, especially in English-language films. This is mainly due to his strong linguistic accent . In 2000, he played the fearless warrior Juba in Ridley Scott's Oscar- winning drama Gladiator , who befriends the revenge-minded titular Maximus (played by Russell Crowe ). Two years later, Hounsou played the role of Abou Fatmas, the savior and companion of Lieutenant Faversham, in Shekhar Kapur's literary adaptation The Four Feathers , alongside Heath Ledger , Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson .

Further career from 2002

The African actor celebrated his greatest success to date with the drama In America in 2002 . The semi-autobiographical work by the Irish- born Jim Sheridan tells the story of an Irish family who tried to start a new life in the USA after a bad stroke of fate in the 1980s. At the side of Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton , Hounsou plays the bitter painter Mateo , who has withdrawn from the outside world due to his HIV infection and who has found new courage to face life through the encounter with the Irish family. For this achievement, Djimon Hounsou was honored with numerous film prizes and in 2004, alongside the South African Charlize Theron, was the first African actor to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

After action films such as the computer game adaptation Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life at the side of Angelina Jolie or Biker Boyz together with Laurence Fishburne , Djimon Hounsou was represented in three film productions in 2005, including the comic adaptation Constantine with Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz , as well as the thriller The Island with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson . In 2006, the fantasy film Eragon - The Legacy of the Dragon Riders followed, in which Djimon Hounsou can be seen alongside Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich . In addition to the recurring rumors that Hounsou would play one of the leading roles in a planned sequel to Gladiator , the African actor took on a leading role in Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond in 2006 . In the thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio , Djimon Hounsou plays a poor fisherman who gets into a conflict with diamond smugglers during the civil war in Sierra Leone . For the part of Solomon Vandy , he received his second Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in 2007. In the same year, the lead role of a talented pianist in Sylvain White's drama The Trunk , who tries to escape life in a poor ghetto, was to follow . The feature film was never made and he was an MMA teacher in the athletic drama Never Back Down (2008) and as an opponent of Chris Evans in the action thriller Push (2009). In 2010, he took on the role of Caliban in Julie Taylor's Shakespeare adaptation of The Tempest , The Tempest . In the film, he acted on the side of Helen Mirren , Alfred Molina and Chris Cooper .

In addition to his work on the big screen, Hounsou continued to appear on US TV. In 1999 he slipped into the medical series Emergency Room for six episodes in the role of Mobalage Ikabo , a Nigerian refugee who enters the United States illegally. Between 2003 and 2004 he was in the third season of the agent series Alias alongside eponymous Jennifer Garner as the corrupt arms dealer Kazari Bomani.

Social engagement and private life

In 2005, Hounsou traveled to Mali with the development aid organization Oxfam to get an idea of ​​the life situation of the people there, which is characterized by poverty. Since then he has been an ambassador for Oxfam and campaigned for the Make Trade Fair campaign and, in 2010, for emergency funds for the earthquake victims in Haiti . In 2009 he was a speaker at the UN climate summit in New York .

Hounsou is a US citizen and lives in Los Angeles . Since 2007 he was in a relationship with the Japanese-American actress and model Kimora Simmons, whom he married in the summer of 2008. In May 2009 a son was born. In November 2012, the couple announced their separation.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Oscar

  • 2004 : Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In America
  • 2007 : Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

Golden Globe Award

  • 1998: Nominated for Best Actor (Drama) for Amistad

Further

Black Reel Award

  • 2004: Best Supporting Actor for In America
  • 2007: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards

  • 2001: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Action Film ) for Gladiator

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

  • 2007: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

Image Awards

  • 1998: Best Actor for Amistad
  • 2004: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In America
  • 2007: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

Independent Spirit Awards

  • 2002: Best Supporting Actor for In America

Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards

  • 2007: Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

National Board of Review

  • 2006: Best Supporting Actor for Blood Diamond

San Diego Film Critics Society Awards

  • 2003: Best Supporting Actor for In America

Satellite Awards

  • 1998: Nominated for Best Actor for Amistad
  • 2004: Best Supporting Actor (Drama) for In America

Screen Actors Guild Awards

ShoWest Convention

  • 2004: Best Supporting Actor of the Year

Web links

Commons : Djimon Hounsou  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. US Newswire: Djimon Hounsou Visits Africa Ahead of G8 Summit . July 1, 2005. Bamako (Mali) (accessed March 30, 2010 via LexisNexis Wirtschaft)
  2. ↑ cf. PR Newswire: Oxfam America Mobilizes Celebrities, New Media to Raise Emergency Funds for Haiti . January 20, 2010 (accessed March 30, 2010 via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
  3. ↑ cf. Thomas Vieregge: China is pushing ahead, the USA is lagging behind. In: The press . September 23, 2009 (accessed March 30, 2010 via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
  4. ↑ cf. Portrait at pe.com , February 28, 2004 (accessed May 1, 2009)
  5. ↑ cf. Jeffrey Slonim: Russell Simmons Okay with Kimora & Djimon. at people.com, March 6, 2007 (accessed May 1, 2009)
personal data
SURNAME Hounsou, Djimon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hounsou, Djimon Gaston (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benin-American actor, dancer, and photo model
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Cotonou , Dahomey