Wednesday, March 31, 2010

DJIMON HOUNSOU HOLLYWOOD ACTOR FROM BENIN





Djimon Hounsou

Date of Birth
24 April 1964, Cotonou, Benin

Birth Name
Djimon Gaston Hounsou

Height
6' 3" (1.91 m)

Mini Biography

Djimon originated from Africa and has graced the catwalks of Paris and London as a popular male model.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse
Kimora Lee (May 2009 - present) 1 child

Trivia

Name pronounced Jie-mon Hahn-soo.

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.

Was in Janet Jackson video "Love Will Never Do Without You" (1992).

On "ER" (1994), he played Mobalage Ikabo, a refugee from Nigeria. His actual homeland of Benin shares its largest border with Nigeria.

Born on the same day as actor/comedian Cedric the Entertainer.

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'.

Learned English by watching television.

His fiancée is Kimora Lee.

Has a son, born May 30, 2009, with Kimora Lee.

Personal Quotes

"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

"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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