If you’ve been an avid filmgoer for the past twenty years, then you’ve probably seen Djimon Hounsou on the big screen before. The 60-year-old, two time Oscar nominated (one for In America and another for Blood Diamond), Beninese-born actor has been working in Hollywood since the 90s with roles in such films as Gladiator, Amistad Fast and the Furious, Guardians of the Galaxy and Shazam and Black Adam, just to name a few.
Despite appearances in all these big name movies, Hounsou says his life isn’t full of the glitz and glamor people usually associate with Hollywood actors. In fact, Hounsou has been struggling to make ends meet and believes that for a number of reasons, he’d underpaid in his profession.
“I’m still struggling to make a living,” Hounsou said on a recent episode of CNN’s African Voices Changemakers. “I’ve been in the filmmaking business for over two decades with two Oscar nominations and many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially. I’m definitely underpaid.”
“I’m still struggling to make a living,” Hounsou continued. “I’ve been in the filmmaking business for over two decades with two Oscar nominations and many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially. I’m definitely underpaid.”
Hounsou thinks that the Academy Awards rebuffed him for his role as Cinque in the Steven Spielberg directed Amistad due to the unwarranted perception that he wasn’t a serious actor because of his background.
“I was nominated for the Golden Globe, but they ignored me for the Oscars because they thought that I had just come off the boat and the streets,” Hounsou said. “Even though I successfully did that, they just didn’t feel like I was an actor to whom they should pay any respect.”
Hounsou has expressed similar sentiments to The Guardian in the past.
“I’ve gone to studios for meetings and they’re like, ‘Wow, we felt like you just got off the boat and then went back [after ‘Amistad’]. We didn’t know you were here as a true actor.’ When you hear things like that, you can see that some people’s vision of you, or what you represent, is very limiting. But it is what it is. It’s up to me to redeem that,” he told The Guardian back in March of 2023.
Hounsou believes that although progress has made in Hollywood regarding racial diversity, it still has a ways to go.
“This conceptual idea of diversity still has a long way to go. Systemic racism won’t change like that anytime soon,” he said.
What do you think of the fact that actor Djimon Hounsou says he’s ‘still struggling to make a living’ despite over 20 years in the industry? Let us know in the comments.
