Born:
April 24, 1964
in
Cotonou, Benin, West Africa
Best Known For:
Gladiator.
Early-life:
Djimon Gaston Hounsou was born on April 24, 1964, in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa, the son of Albertine and Pierre Hounsou. He emigrated to Paris at the age of 13 with his brother, Edmond, and moved to the US in 1990. A 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, leading him to pursue acting roles. Hounsou's film debut was in the 1990 Sandra Bernhard film Without You I'm Nothing, and he had TV parts on Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER and a guest starring role on Alias.
Career:
Hounsou 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. 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. His recent work includes The Tempest, Special Forces, Baggage Claim and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Quote:
"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."
Trivia:
He voiced Drago Bludvist in How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014).