Djimon Gaston Hounsou (born April 24, 1964) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated Beninois actor.

Early life

Djimon Hounsou (pronounced /ʒaɪ́mʌ̌n ɒ́nsǔ/ (last name pronounced Hansoo)) was born in Cotonou, Benin, to Albertine and Pierre Hounsou. He emigrated to Paris at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond. One year before obtaining his college degree he dropped out of school. He lived on the streets for a while until he was discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who made him a model. Modeling led to acting.

Career

Djimon's film debut was in the 1990 Sandra Bernhard film Without You I'm Nothing, and he has had television parts on Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER and a guest starring role on Alias, but received a larger role in the science fiction film Stargate. His first on-screen appearance was in the 1990 Janet Jackson video “Love Will Never Do (Without You)”, which co-starred Antonio Sabato, Jr. He also starred in a 2002 Gap commercial directed by Peter Lindbergh, dancing to a rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" by Arrested Development's Baba Oje.

He received wide critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role as Cinqué in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film Amistad. He gained further notice as Juba, in the 2000 film Gladiator. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for In America, in 2004, becoming the first black African to be nominated for an Oscar. That same year, Charlize Theron, a South African actress was nominated for her work in Monster, and was the first time that two African-born performers were nominated for an Oscar in the same year. In 2006, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Blood Diamond; he received Broadcast Film Critics Association, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Academy Award nominations for this performance.

On February 24, 2007, it was announced that Hounsou will be the new Calvin Klein Underwear model. Starting with the Fall 2007 season, he will be featured in the brand's global print advertising campaign including the launch of their new Calvin Klein Steel product line.

Director Tim Story recently mentioned to IGN that if he was to do a third Fantastic Four movie, he would like to have Hounsou as the Black Panther. Also, David Jaffe expressed interest in seeing Djimon play the hero and main character, Kratos, in an upcoming movie based on the hit video game God of War.

Personal life

As of 2007 Hounsou has been publicly dating model and CEO of Phat Fashions Kimora Lee Simmons.1 He is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. 2

Djimon also owns a house in Los Angeles' Playa del Rey area.

Filmography