Age: 62
male
Djimon Gaston Hounsou (born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese-American actor and model. He began his career appearing in music videos, made his film debut in Without You I'm Nothing and earned widespread recognition for his role as Cinqué in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards. Hounsou became a naturalized American citizen in 2007. He was reluctant to renounce his Beninese citizenship and therefore opted to become a dual citizen of both Benin and the United States, effectively rendering him a Beninese-American. Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou. He immigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond. In 1987, he became a model and established a career in Paris. He moved to the U.S. in 1990. One year before obtaining his college degree, he dropped out of school. In 1989, he appeared in a music video of Straight Up by Paula Abdul. Hounsou's film debut was in the 1990 Sandra Bernhard film Without You I’m Nothing, and he has had television roles on Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER and a guest starring role on Alias, but received a larger role in the science fiction film Stargate. His first on-screen appearance was in the 1990 Janet Jackson video “Love Will Never Do (Without You).” He also starred in a 2002 Gap commercial directed by Peter Lindbergh, dancing to a rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" by Arrested Development's Baba Oje. He 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 fourth African male to be nominated for an Oscar (along with Basil Rathbone, Cecil Kellaway and Omar Sharif). 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. In 2007, Hounsou began dating model/CEO of Baby Phat, Kimora Lee Simmons. In 2008 Hounsou and Simmons visited Hounsou's family and while there, the two participated in a traditional commitment ceremony. On May 30, 2009, Simmons gave birth to their son, Kenzo Lee Hounsou, reportedly named because Kenzo means 3 (Kimora's third child).
Djimon Hounsou
Alem
for Alem in Cursed Land, Liberated Hearts
Suggested by thecookieprincess
In 1855, in North Carolina, nineteen-year-old Elliot Jones, the son of a wealthy and cruel planter, 41-year-old Nicholas Jones, lives under the harsh tutelage of his father, who becomes increasingly aggressive and indifferent toward his son after his wife's death. One day Elliot learns that his father has purchased a new slave, fifteen-year-old Davu. The girl, though quiet, turns out to be smart and strong, and Elliot, full of compassion, begins to help her and strikes up conversations with her. When his father discovers their contact, he brutally punishes Davu with a flogging, and threatens his son with turning him in to a 20-year-old widow if he doesn't stop seeing her. Determined to escape his father's cruelty and save Davu, Elliot steals a horse and takes her away on the night of her sixteenth birthday. They flee into the nearby woods, but Nicholas sets off on their trail. They begin a dangerous journey north, where they plan to find freedom and a better life. Along the way, they fall in love with each other, but still have to escape the pursuit of a cruel father, who will not rest until he gets his son and the girl back.
