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Djimon Hounsou He has dozens of award-winning films and two Oscar nominations under his belt, but the actor says he still struggles financially and is “definitely underpaid.”
In a new interview with CNN published on Friday, January 10, the Beninese actor, 60, said he does not feel he has been fairly compensated for his work and that he still faces systemic racism in the industry.
“I’m still struggling trying to make a living,” said Hounsou, who earned Oscar nominations In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), by Larry Madowo. “I’ve been in this movie making business now for over two decades with two Oscar nominations, been in a lot of blockbuster movies, and yet, I’m still struggling financially. I’m definitely getting paid enough.”
Hounsou, whose best known performances include Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator (2000), Steven Spielberg‘s Amistad (1997) a The Quiet Place franchise, he went on to discuss racism in Hollywood.
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“I was nominated for a Golden Globe (for Amistad), but they snubbed me for the Oscars, talking about the fact that they thought I just got off the boat and off the streets ,” Hounsou said in the CNN an interview. “Even though I did that (film) successfully, they just didn’t feel that I was an actor that they should pay any respect to. This conceptual idea of diversity still has a long way to go. Systemic racism isn’t changing like that anytime soon.”
Hounsou – who shares 15-year-old son Kenzo with ex Kimora Lee Simmons and the 2-year-old son Fela with a partner Ri’Za – has been open about his career difficulties in previous interviews. In a sit down session in 2023 with The GuardianHounsou said he “felt seriously cheated” after his Blood Diamond costar Leonardo DiCaprio he got the best actor nod while being left out in the supporting actor category even though the film focuses on his character’s journey.
“Today, we talk so much about the Oscars being so white, but I remember there was a time when I had no support at all: no support from my own people, no support from the media, from the industry himself It felt like: ‘You should be happy that you’ve been nominated,’ and that’s it.”
Djimon Hounsou
Clay Enos/NetflixHe continued: “I’m still struggling trying to make a dollar! I have come up in the business with some people who are completely well off and have very few of my honors. So I feel cheated, hugely cheated, in terms of funding and in terms of the workload as well.”
“I still have to prove why I need to be paid,” he added later in the interview. “They always come to me with a very low ball: ‘We only have so much for the role, but we love you so much and we really think you can bring so much.'”
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In 2025, he is set to star Under the Storm side by side Phoebe Dinefwr a The Zealot with Cody Smith-McPhee having appeared in a few DC and Marvel films. Still, Hounsou insisted The Guardian that studios assumed he “went back” to Africa after that Amistad and he was not a “real actor.”
“When you hear things like that, you can see that some people’s vision of you, or what you represent, is very limiting,” he said. “But it is what it is. It’s up to me to make up for that.”
