Djimon Hounsou has become a near-ubiquitous presence on screens in Hollywood blockbusters and indie movies.
Known for portraying intense and often formidable roles, the two-time Academy Award-nominated actor has starred in “Blood Diamond,” “In America,” “Amistad,” “Gladiator” and several other worthwhile films.
Statuesquely tall at six feet two inches, the soft-spoken actor who played Paula Patton’s lover in the romantic comedy “Baggage Claim” has had an extremely busy year. From voicing an evil dragon slayer in “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” a role in the action film “Fast and Furious 7,” scheduled for a 2016 release, the fantasy adventure film “Seventh Son” with Jeff Bridges, Mark Neveldine’s thriller “The Vatican Tapes,” the upcoming version of “Tarzan,” and playing a killing machine called Korath the Pursuer in Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Hounsou hasn’t stopped to take a breath.
“I have literally been hopping from set to set trying to keep up with all of that,” he shares. “It’s been a lot, but it’s a great variety of work. I’ve got so much to accomplish and I feel like there’s so little time so I am packing them in,” adds the actor who for the movie “Dragon” is grateful to have had the opportunity to take Kenzo, his five year old son he had with entrepreneur Kimora Lee Simmons with him on set.
“Having a son, being part of animated features is quite important, adding he saw the first one and knew the story and it was nice to tell him that I was going to be in a film he was familiar with,” continues the actor who is also producing and developing a slate of feature films and documentaries via his company Fanaticus Entertainment.
In the action-packed, star studded epic space adventure that also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro, Hounsou plays another menacing character only this time, he’s a killing machine.
“Korath is a pursuer, a machine dedicated to kill, a humanoid with only one thing in mind, to go after his target. I was excited that the story didn’t have any place in our terrestrial world. While I knew that would be very challenging, it gave me a great amount of freedom to navigate and use my imagination to take my character to the extreme. I also wanted to be part of the Marvel comics world,” says the actor on his attraction to the role. “I had a great amount of freedom to navigate and use my imagination and go to the extreme levels of what a machine that is built to kill looks like since there is not much written about the character. Even though my makeup doesn’t seem like much, it took a couple of hours to put together and it looks pretty amazing.”
A former model from Benin, he moved to Paris at the age of 13 to pursue a Western education. Discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler, Hounsou’s career took off and he was soon appearing in several iconic music videos for legendary photographer Herb Ritts and director David Fincher. Small film roles followed before his breakthrough performance as Cinque, the West African who lead an uprising to regain his freedom in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film “Amistad.” It’s a role that earned him a Golden Globe nomination and a NAACP Image Award. Following that In 2006, Hounsou continued a winning streak receiving an NAACP Image Award, a National Board of Review citation and a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award nomination for his role as a forced laborer who discovers a rare gem in the film “Blood Diamond,” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
“People remember ‘Blood diamond’ in the sense that it’s more contemporary and it hits the heart for many people and then ‘Amistad,” shares he actor on his most recognizable roles. “A lot of people studied that for film school or some form of education, but it’s mostly Blood Diamond’ people remember me for because it is a subject that we all prize so much.”
Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” earned him a shared Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as a member of the cast and for his performance as an artist afflicted with AIDS in the film “In America,” Hounsou garnered an Independent Spirit Award, a second Academy Award
nomination and was also named 2004’s ShoWest Supporting Actor of the Year.
“You have to be in the driver’s seat of your own career and trying to find the balance is a bit like being a gymnast,” say Hounsou who has also crossed over to television and voiced the Black Panther in the BET animated series based on the Marvel Comic. He also starred as a refugee seeking asylum in a memorable six-episode arc on “ER” and played a recurring role in the series “Alias,” which stars Jennifer Garner.
A celebrity ambassador for Oxfam, Hounsou is also a powerful voice against poverty and injustice and has advocated for poor farmers who have been affected by unfair international trade rules. It’s a role he is passionate about and he has supported a variety of fundraising activities for Oxfam and firmly believes in using his fame to promote worthy causes.
In 2009, he opened the UN General Assembly in New York with a compelling speech about the impact of climate change on developing nations. He also appeared before the U.S. Senate on behalf of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and participated in a hearing and summit for the International Arms Ban Treaty.
“We should be ashamed to die unless we have made some major contribution to human society, for there is no way you can enrich yourself without enriching people around you. We are social beings and we are supposed to be interacting with another and supposed to be helping one another to survive.”
Photos courtesy of Royalty Image/Disney
