Djimon Gaston Hounsou, commonly known as Djimon Hounsou, is a famous American model, film producer, dancer, as well as an actor. Djimon Hounsou made his acting debut in the 1990 film written by Sandra Bernard called “Without You I’m Nothing”. Djimon Hounsou’s commercial success followed later, when in 1997 he played the character of Cinque in the historical drama film entitled “Amistad”, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. A critical and commercial success with more than $44 million grossed in the box office, “Amistad” featured a cast of Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey in the main roles. The movie not only brought Hounsou a larger public exposure, but also earned him a nomination for Chicago Film Critics Association award, as well as a nomination for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Actor. More recently, in 2014 Hounsou voiced a character in an animated film called “How to Train Your Dragon 2”, and appeared opposite Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Vin Diesel in Marvel’s superhero film entitled “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
Djimon Hounsou Net Worth $12 Million
Aside from being an actor, Djimon Hounsou is also a well-known model. In 2007, he joined “Calvin Klein” fashion house, where he had been working as an underwear model.
A well-known actor as well as a model, how rich is Djimon Hounsou? According to sources, Hounsou’s net worth is estimated to be $12 million undoubtedly, most of this wealth comes from his acting and modeling career.
Djimon Hounsou was born in 1964, in Cotonou, Benin. When he was 13 years old, Hounsou decided to move out to Lyon, where he briefly attended high school. Eventually, Hounsou put a halt to his studies, as he struggled to make a living. Fortunately, he was discovered by Thierry Mugler, who inspired him to become a model. Consequently, Djimon Hounsou began pursuing a modeling career, and even made a name for himself in Paris. In 1990, Hounsou decided to move to the United States, where he launched an acting career. Prior to his film debut, Hounsou made appearances in Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do (Without You)”, and Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” music videos. Hounsou followed his acting success with the role of Juba in Ridley Scott’s epic historical drama “Gladiator”, which proved to be a huge commercial and critical success. In 2002, Djimon Hounsou played a character in Jim Sheridan’s “In America”, where he co-starred with Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine and Emma Bolger. “In America” brought Hounsou a nomination for an Academy Award, Black Reel Award, NAACP Image Award, as well as Screen Actors Guild Award.
Aside from appearances in films, Djimon Hounsou has also starred in numerous television series, including “ER”, “Soul Food” and “Black Panther”. Currently, Djimon Hounsou is working on several upcoming films, namely “The Vatican Tapes” with Kathleen Robertson, “Furious 7” with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, and “Seventh Son” starring Ben Barnes and Jeff Bridges.
A famous actor, Djimon Hounsou has an estimated net worth of $12 million.
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Nominations
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture – Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Satellit...
Movies
Blood Diamond, The Legend of Tarzan, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gladiator, Furious 7, Amistad, Never Back Down, The Island, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Constantine, Seventh Son, Beauty Shop, The Vatican Tapes, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Push, The Tempest, Elephant White, Eragon, Bagga...
TV Shows
Black Panther, Wayward Pines
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Quote
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I feel like Africans are too often portrayed as people on the National Geographic channel: the image is of an African man in a loincloth chasing a gazelle. It's not intentionally racist; I wouldn't call it racist at all. It's a lack of understanding another culture.
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A lot of times, we also have to live and work. You have to make money to pay rent. In that respect, I don't think you can be so demanding. Those great stories are not the normal stories that come on a daily basis. It's a struggle to land those roles. Everybody is looking for the good parts.
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The rocky time came right after I left school. I spent a lot of time at night navigating the streets of Paris trying to find something to eat.
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My passion is more about bringing the stories out from the African continent mixed with the West.
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As a young boy, I had strange dreams of affecting people and somehow being instrumental in changing the makeup of Africa and helping to improve life there.
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When most people in the West think about Africa, is their first thought about the game reserves and who's chasing gazelles, or are they looking at Africans as people who are equally equipped to do great things, as in the West?
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We like to make the Marvel comics films because they're fun. Families can go see them together. They're entertaining. They aspire to inspire, and that is cool.
8
Until you are somewhat comfortable and confident and embrace who you are as a person, you can't possibly love somebody else because you don't like yourself that much.
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It's a part of most actors to want to be in an animated feature; to extend the legacy of your career.
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I hope more people will ask diamond companies to continue changing the way they do business in Africa.
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I happened to the be the fifth child of my family, so everybody was already grown and had left home already.
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Even while modeling, I was still practicing kung fu and boxing as sports.
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If anything, Calvin Klein is the iconic company in terms of fashion. They do have iconic images for their campaigns.
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One of the things I find extremely challenging about the continent of Africa is that when the immediate needs and the social needs of people are not met, that kills dreams, and it's all about survival.
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The lack of diversity, specifically in genre films and the superheroes our kids grow up watching and emulating, they can't really identify with. When you see the same thing, over and over again, and it seems not to speak of you and your heritage and your culture, it leaves you out of this world a little bit.
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Rehearsals are set up so that you find out all the nuances about your character. You never want to beat yourself up. It's about finding the right direction, and most of the time, the right direction is not what you think is the right direction. That's why the director's there: to guide you there.
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I like stories that have a social impact and social attributes to them. That's the whole reason we make films: to broaden our limited view of things and to see how life is evolving elsewhere.
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Some of the reason why you have so many divorces is that we tend to get married, most of the time, not for ourselves, but for others, or for how it looks to others.
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I was just a very torn child, very wounded in so many areas, with no family support. I happened to the be the fifth child of my family. So everybody was already grown and had left home already.
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Africa is a continent that provides so much for the existence of the rest of the world. We go around the world and cultivate so many things.
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Funny enough, every role that I have had, I try to tone down my accent or speak with better diction.
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Africa is my continent. It is where I opened my eyes.
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The gym can serve as an excellent place where kids and young men and women can really empty their issues right on the floor.
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America has this understanding of Africans that plays like National Geographic: a bunch of Negroes with loincloths running around the plain fields of Africa chasing gazelles. Meanwhile, we have Africans and African-Americans, contemporary men, with great stories, great integrity, great heroes and nobody wants to see or hear about those African heroes and those African-American heroes. One day, I will be in a position to play those great human beings on-screen.
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School bored me. Being educated and being intelligent are two different things. I thought I was smart enough. And I wanted to be an entertainer. I stopped going to school as a way of saying I was mature, a way of saying I was going to choose who I was going to become. --Daily News, December 3, 1997.
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Fact
1
Has a son, Kenzo Lee Hounsou, born May 30, 2009. Mother is ex-fiancée Kimora Lee Simmons.
2
His ex-fiancée was Kimora Lee Simmons. They were in a relationship from 2007-2012.
3
Learned English by watching television.
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Fourth male African to receive an Oscar-nomination for acting. The other three were Basil Rathbone, Cecil Kellaway and Omar Sharif. All four men were nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor'.
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On ER (1994), he played Mobalage Ikabo, a refugee from Nigeria. His actual homeland of Benin shares its largest border with Nigeria.
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Was in Janet Jackson video "Love Will Never Do Without You" (1992).
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Came to Paris from Benin at the age of 13, couldn't find a job and ended as a vagrant, sleeping under bridges and rummaging in trash cans for food. Things changed for the better when fashion designer Thierry Mugler discovered him and made him a fashion model.