Djimon Hounsou

Born

1964-04-24

Birthplace

Cotonou, Dahomey [now Benin]

Biography

Djimon Gaston Hounsou (/ˈdʒaɪmən ˈuːnsuː/ JY-mən OON-soo; French: [dʒimɔ̃ unsu]; born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese-American actor. He began his career appearing in music videos and made his film debut in Without You I'm Nothing (1990). He then earned widespread recognition for his role as Cinqué in the Steven Spielberg film Amistad (1997), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. For his performances in In America(2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), Hounsou was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he portrays Korath the Pursuer in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Captain Marvel (2019), and What If...? (2021). In the DC Extended Universe, he appears as the Fisherman King in Aquaman (2018) and as the wizard Shazam in Shazam! (2019), Black Adam (2022), and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). His other notable films include Stargate(1994), Gladiator (2000),  Constantine, The Island (both 2005), Special Forces (2011), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Furious 7 (2015), The Legend of Tarzan (2016), A Quiet Place Part II (2021), Gran Turismo, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (both 2023), Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver and A Quiet Place: Day One (both 2024). Hounsou made his directorial debut with the documentary film In Search of Voodoo: Roots to Heaven (2018). Description above from the Wikipedia article Djimon Hounsou, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.