Djimon Hounsou (1964- ) is a Hollywood actor and model. He played Cinque in “Amistad” (1997) and later appeared in “Gladiator” (2000), “In America” (2003) and “Blood Diamonds” (2006). For the last two he was nominated for Oscars for Best Supporting Actor. He also models underwear for Calvin Klein. In 2009 he had a son by girlfriend Kimora Lee Simmons.
He was born in Benin, the country just west of Nigeria, the son of a well-to-do cook. He grew up in a place without television, so when they showed films it was standing room only. It was then he knew he wanted to be an entertainer.
His father had other ideas and sent him to France to study to become a doctor. Hounsou lived with his brother in Lyons. His heart was not in his studies and he dropped out. Then his brother kicked him out, so Hounsou made his way to Paris.
There he lived on the streets for over a year – he had no working papers. Then one day a photographer noticed him. Hounsou never thought of himself as good-looking, but to white people he was a tall, dark, exotic-looking African man. Hounsou is 1.91 metres tall (6 foot 3).
So in 1987 he became a fashion model in Paris!
Three years later he left to go to Hollywood to become an actor. He had charm, good looks and talent, but in Hollywood he had two strikes against him: he knew little English and he was black.
Hounsou said that Hollywood film-makers:
think of you as a black artist, not an artist, and that’s crippling. You have to fight and fight for them to think of a role as being black because they’ve been thinking white, white, white.
Also being black in America was different than in Africa or France:
It never occurred to me that there was a way to behave “black” in order to be black…. It was difficult for me. Growing up in France, I was just a human being. I came here and they tell you, “Hey, he behaves like a white boy.” I didn’t know there was a way to be black. So that was shocking.
He learned English by listening to narrators of documentaries on cable television. In the meantime he got parts that required little English, like a doorman on “Beverly Hills, 90210” or a model in Janet Jackson’s music video “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” (1990) – a part he got by way of fashion photographer Herb Ritts.
Then he landed a big part that required only three words of English: Cinque, who leads the slave mutiny in “Amistad” (1997). The catch was, Hounsou had just ten days to learn enough Mende for the part! Which for him, having grown up speaking Gen and French, was just as hard as learning English!
It got him noticed and now he gets better parts, though almost always as a supporting character – a common fate of black actors in Hollywood. And his English is now so good that he is a narrator too!
– Abagond, 2011.
See also:
He’s a brilliant actor, I loved him in “Gladiator”
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He is SEX! *dies* His voice, his looks, his swagger.
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Oh I like his narrative of writing about Africa.. Hah yes, Madiba is a person that have to be quoted in every book about Africa.
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He’s like a beautiful black prince carved from a single piece of mahogany. He’s one of the finest African men I’ve ever seen. The other being the actor Henry Cele who played Shaka Zulu.
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Interesting bio.
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He is beautiful!!! His autobiography is quite impressive too!
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I don’t think I ever watched any of his films. Except for Gladiator, but I hated it and I don’t remember much about it.
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So here we have another account of a black person being told he isn’t black enough by other black people.
I feel like a big part of white racism is expecting blacks to conform to a their (WP’s) idea of blackness. Apparently though BP do the exact same thing to other BP. So it kind of feels like whites are being held to a higher standard here. I know that sounds whiny but still that’s what it looks like to me.
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There’s also another thing I notice, though admittedly, it could be just me: American privilege. American blacks* expect their ideas about race and culture and behavior to be universal.
*It’s not just blacks, of course, but we already knew this.
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“I feel like a big part of white racism is expecting blacks to conform to a their (WP’s) idea of blackness. Apparently though BP do the exact same thing to other BP. So it kind of feels like whites are being held to a higher standard here. I know that sounds whiny but still that’s what it looks like to me.”
No, it’s just as irritating when Black people do it to other Blacks.
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I think I love him.
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Thanks for sharing a short bio of Djimon Hounsou! I think he is a great actor in the film, “Amistad.” My favorite scenes of him in that film are the opening scene and when he strips his clothes off in front of the flaming fire to convey his frustration of being held captive.
I would like to see him more but preferably in realistic films and not Sci-Fi.
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The part about him coming to American and having to “act black”, a concept previously unknown to him was the most interesting part of the post. There are few things I hate more than hearing black people told from blacks or non-blacks that they should think or act black. It infuriates me and no other group is subjected to that. No one every says to Japanese Americans that they don’t act Japanese enough.
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@tulio
I know, reminds me of that film Hollywood Shuffle and the part where Robert Towsend was in a scene that was so stereotypical and plain wrong and the director told him he needed to act “more black” “you know how they are.”
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@tulio
Right. It’s another form of privilege. Never being told you aren’t acting your race properly. Or ever having to worry about something so ludicrous.
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“never being told to act your “race” properly” is a form of privilege??
This can only come from people who are obsessed with the concept of “race”. How about behaving the way you are, naturally? As long as others let you do that… and that’s exactly the point.
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“The part about him coming to American and having to “act black”, a concept previously unknown to him was the most interesting part of the post. There are few things I hate more than hearing black people told from blacks or non-blacks that they should think or act black.”
It’s true. One of my friends is Haitian and isn’t considered black. I’ve heard it ever towards West Africans. It’s weird because ghetto/street and black-american(ones that descends from slaves from the south inport from West Africa) Alot of so-called black culture really came from whites. Like fried chicken is Scottish and the Chinese were the first fry anything. Hillbillies and ghetto people are the same. There’s no difference between Roseanne and Peggy Bundy from a streotypical ghetto black woman.
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I forgot to say that it’s my other black americans don’t consider him “black”. I’m dead serious.
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that’s interesting. I always thought black meant the black diaspora. And I also think that this article was talking about Hollywood producers, directers, e.t.c., and how they tell black people to “act black”. That’s why most films that star blacks are about how hard it is in the hood(Boyz n the Hood) or is melodramatic (tyler perry films). There are hardly any films that star black people where there isn’t a coon(Rush Hour). Unless it stars Denzel Washington, Will Smith or Halle Berry, most black actors will be casted as stereotypes(mad black woman, lazy black man, welfare queen e.t.c) Are there any films like He’s Just Not That Into You staring black people?
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Thandie Newton, who grew up in England, experienced the same thing in Hollywood: she was “too black” to play “white” characters and yet “not black enough” to play “black” characters.
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It’s hard to be a black actress/actor
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@Imwriter
“Denzel Washington, Will Smith or Halle Berry”
Hehe these are always the Black people I list that have the ability to play a leading/main role in a movie where the cast is all or damn near all White.
I think Hollywood really needs to get out of this mindset that roles have to be race-specific. A lot of good Black/minority actors have trouble getting recognition in Hollywood bc many roles that could be race-neutral are reserved for Whites.
I know that there is racism in America and casting directors are reluctant to use Blacks bc they supposedly don’t sell. However, I don’t think American racism is THAT pervasive to the point where White viewers will not see a film just bc a Black person has a main role in it.
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This is a nice quote from Anziz Ansari that i just read on The Guardian:
“I was doing an interview once and the guy said, you must be psyched by all this Slumdog Millionaire stuff. And I was like, umm… Yeah! I am! I have no idea why, though, as I had NOTHING to do with that movie! It’s just that some people who kinda look like me are in it, and everyone loved it and it won some Oscars and stuff. And then I was like, whoa whoa whoa – are white people just psyched ALL THE TIME? It’s like, Back to the Future – that’s us! Godfather – that’s us! Jaws – that’s us! Every fucking movie BUT Slumdog Millionaire and Boyz n the Hood is us!”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/feb/16/aziz-ansari
I personally don’t mind seeing White people or any other race in the media. I just don’t like knowing that talented people lose out in Hollywood just bc they are perceived as being the “other” in American society.
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A fine man and an even finer actor. Waking up to a man like this must be such a treat.
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Abagond,
There is no such thing as “acting black” in black culture. Black music, dance, and sexuality should never be confused with individual thought and perception. All black people can’t sing, all black people can’t dance, all black people are not dynamic in the bedroom, and so forth. All sistas and brothas are not created equal, but, when we decide to master something, we master it . As for Hollywood, we as black people should call a spade a spade. It’s controlled by whites, and thus, it can shape and mold blacks into what they think we should be, versus the other way around. For instance, not showing black couples kissing or having sex on-screen creates a false impression that black people don’t love one another. Casting blackwomen as prostitutes and welfare-queens creates a false perception that there are no good blackwomen, therefore, successful blackmen should scoop them up a trophy blonde like Tiger did, but Tiger’s not black. Not showing blackmen who actually love black people, blackwomen, god-fearing, free-thinking, heterosexual, intelligent, and fearless becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy with tragic results. Authentic blackness can’t be bought and paid for, which is why you rarely see it in mainstream white media. I’m free to think…Are you free to think…Can we think of a better plan…I’m thinking 24/7…One thought can free an entire nation…Individual thought…Group Salvation!!!
Tyrone,
Thinking & Formulating A Better Plan Of Action
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Super. hot.
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holy cow. so hot.
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This is true. Coming from the West INdies, I am often accused by non-blacks and blacks…whether african american or africans who have assumed ‘black behaviour’, that I am not black enough. That is where the term ‘oreo’ comes from. THey don’t understand that people grow up in different environments with different influences and cultures and education, and just because I don’t worship hip hop and I happen to like rock music doesn’t mean I’m not ‘black enough’. Music is just music to me. I like it all. Just because I am black doesn’t mean I should talk a certain way or dress a certain way or like certain things or ONLY hang with other black people, or only like black men. Yet I know I am considered and outsider because I don’t conform to such enslaving mentality.
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btw…djimon hounsou is HAWT! 🙂
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[…] 1) (Source 2) (Source 3) (Source […]
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I love him–sexy as all get out–not just his looks, but even more so his talent.
I do have to add, though, for those of us who have seen Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle–it may not have been Black Americans asking hit to act “more Black” but white casting directors/producers.
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I see other posters mentioned Hollywood Shuffle also…that’s what happens when you don’t read all the posts 🙂
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YESSSS, GIVE US, US,US, FREE!!! ALL I KNOW IS I SEE THE CHANGE IN KIMORA ‘S BEING. HE ‘S GOT HER GLOWING WITH SOME MUCH JOY. HE MAKE HER SO FULFILLED THAT I CAN’T WAIT TO GET A DIVORCE AND FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE ME ME LIKE THAT MAN LOVES KIMORA!!
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Hey brother from another mother.lot of people said I look like u brother please help me am facing the same condition…
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wao imagine i will see you again but not yet LOL
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think of you as a black artist, not an artist, and that’s crippling. You have to fight and fight for them to think of a role as being black because they’ve been thinking white, white, white.
Abagond, do you know if Hounsou made a habit of these types of criticisms of the industry? I agree with and appreciate what he is saying and it is good for insiders rather than just cultural critics to point out these truths. However, doors get slammed in one’s face in Hollywood pretty easy for criticizing the industry. Maybe Hounsou has been sidelined because of comments about the racism. Denzel keeps very mum on the subject, not zero, but close to zero from I’ve seen. Idris Elba is being promoted and kept in the public consciousness, I doubt he is saying anything about the race/stereotyping issues either.
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I took notice of him in Janet Jackson’s video, all that fine perfection. He was HAWT!
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Don’t see much of him these days. I guess Idris is the new hot go to black guy in Hollywood now.
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Papa Midnight in “Constantine”
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Stephanie Howard
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