Djimon Hounsou is one of the best-known African Actors in Hollywood today. At 6'4", Djimon has combined his imposing physical presence with a sharp mind to create an extremely successful career in the film industry.

Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, the capital of Benin Republic on the 24th of April 1964. In 1977, aged 13, he was sent to live with his elder brother in France. Things however did not go according to plan and he was soon to drop out of school and end up homeless on the streets of Paris.

It was out of this destitute life that his fortune was to change forever. Thierry Mugler the French fashion designer, photographer and author, discovered the homeless urchin on the streets of Paris. Thierry recognized in Djimon the talent that many across the world will later enjoy, and gave Djimon a fresh opportunity as a male model, a start Djimon desperately needed at that point in his life.

Djimon went on to enjoy considerable success as a model and as his career blossomed with local and international assignments rolled in. It was on one such international assignment that brought him to America. It was love at first sight and despite not speaking a word of English Djimon moved to America.

Learning English became his first challenge, and as he would do in so many of his movie parts he threw himself whole-heartedly into overcoming this obstacle. Unusually Djimon turned to the TV to help out, in particular Discovery and the History Channel, both channels where instrumental in providing the foundation for his now remarkable fluency in English.

His acting career began with bits parts in TV series and Pop Videos including Janet Jackson's 'Love Will Never Do Without You', Paula Abdul's 'Straight Up' and Madonna's 'Express Yourself'.

His real breakthrough came in the movie Stargate in 1994 where he starred as Horus, this opened the pipe line to other projects and ultimately in 1997 to the Oscar winning film Amistad, where he gave a phenomenal performance as Sengbe Pieh (Cinque) in 'Amistad', a tale of an African sold in slavery and fighting for justice.

Not content with starring in one critically acclaimed movie Djimon co-starred in one of the greatest epics of recent years, 'Gladiator'. His role as Juba, the Numidian Gladiator alongside Russell Crowe was instrumental in winning the film 5 Oscar awards.

Djimon's greatest personal cinematic achievement came in 2004 when he was nominated for an Oscar for the best supporting Actor in the Film 'In America' for his role as Mateo, an AIDS victim.

Djimon Hounsou continues to thrill audiences across the world and we at ClickAfrique expect to see more of the Beninois actor in years to come.