At the Movies: Djimon Hounsou

Hounsou in Gucci
Academy Awards, 2004

Djimon Hounsou is forty and fabulous. He's a triple threat: tall, dark and extremely handsome. Let's say quadruple threat, because I'm a sucker for any kind of accent or dialect—and Hounsou's afrique francophone is tres sexy.

Right now, he's doing the damn thang: a former Academy-Award nominee, and co-star of Constantine and the upcoming Beauty Shop.

The model-turned-actor from Benin, West Africa never imagined he’d get this far in Hollywood, much less life.

Not knowing anything and not knowing the direction that the course is going to take later, if I knew it would end up like this now, I’d probably do it again. But not knowing is the most challenging part of it.

Djimon from Constantine

It seems like only yesterday that we first saw the statuesque, 6'2 beauty in the video for Janet Jackson's Love Will Never Do Without You. But that was many yesterdays ago, 12 years to be exact. He moved to the states after many years in Paris. Djimon was one of Europe's top male models, discovered by Thierry Mugler who saw him living on the streets of Paris.

Hounsou looks even better now, and since then has gained much cache. Last year, he was nominated for best supporting actor for In America, the first African to be nominated for the award.

Beauty Shop opens March 30th, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he does. Admittedly, there are some reservations: Queen Latifah's turn in Barbershop 2: Back in Business was not strong, but then again, the movie was your typical g-fab sequel. But Djimon says the new project will be ROFL:

You know there’s a funny element there with Queen Latifiah, Alicia Silverstone and Andie MacDowell playing a bunch of hairdressers.

Hopefully. We haven't seen Andie in anything besides cosmetic and shampoo commercials since ... ?


Beauty Shop Opens March 30th
Djimon Hounsou: IMDB
Constantine