Djimon Hounsou is opening up about the realities of working in Hollywood as a person of color.
The 60-year-old actor, who was born in the West African country Benin and has starred in such movies as Blood Diamond and Gladiator, discussed his experience while appearing on a recent episode of CNN’s African Voices Changemakers. During the conversation, Hounsou revealed that he is still underpaid — despite two decades in the industry.
“I’m still struggling to make a living,” he said. “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 also said he believes he was snubbed by the Academy Awards for his breakout role as Cinqué in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 historical drama Amistad — despite receiving a Golden Globe nomination for the same performance.
“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,” he claimed. “Even though I successfully did that, they just didn’t feel like I was an actor to whom they should pay any respect.”
Hounsou also shared that he believes there is still much progress to be made when it comes to diversity in the entertainment industry.
“This conceptual idea of diversity still has a long way to go. Systemic racism won’t change like that anytime soon,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the actor has opened up about his struggles to attain fair compensation in Hollywood. In a March 2023 interview with The Guardian, Hounsou said he had “yet to meet the film that paid me fairly.”
“I still have to prove why I need to get paid,” he continued. “They always come at me with a complete low ball: ‘We only have this much for the role, but we love you so much and we really think you can bring so much.’ ”
“Viola Davis said it beautifully. She’s won an Oscar, she’s won an Emmy, she’s won a Tony and she still can’t get paid,” Hounsou told the outlet, referencing Davis’ past vocal comments about wage discrimination in the industry.
Hounsou, who immigrated to the U.S. when he was 23, explained that his time in Hollywood — and specifically his work with Spielberg, 78, on Amistad — eventually inspired him to establish the Djimon Hounsou Foundation. The organization’s mission is “to champion a visceral connection between the countries of the African diaspora and the motherland and to heal the wounds that slavery left behind,” per its website.
“My acting work really opened my eyes,” Hounsou said on the African Voices Changemakers episode.
“As I was doing research for the film, I became profoundly aware of the disconnect between Afro-descendants from their roots and culture,” he continued. “Because when you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know who you are.”
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“I had this compelling need to do something for my people for my continent, and that was really what compelled me to start my [foundation] so many years later,” Hounsou said.
“One of the attributes of the foundation is Africa reconnect,” he added. “It’s to strengthen Africa’s intergenerational identity and self-awareness by bringing the people — by reconnecting the people — of the African diaspora to the motherland. To their history.”
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