“Friendship”. “Blood Diamond.” “In the US.” All top-grossing movies starring Djimon Hounsou that earned him widespread recognition and demanding acclaim. Nonetheless, in a current interview, the actor revealed that he’s nonetheless struggling to make ends meet as an artist.
Hounsou just lately sat down with CNN Africa and spoke about his expertise in Hollywood and the way the trade nonetheless has an extended solution to go when it comes to systemic racism. “I am nonetheless struggling to make a dwelling,” he revealed within the clip. “I’ve been within the movie enterprise for over 20 years with two Oscar nominations and lots of blockbuster movies and but I’m nonetheless struggling financially. “I’m positively underpaid.”
Talking about his earlier profession in Hollywood, he revealed that he felt “ignored” on the Oscars when he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his breakout position in “Amistad.” He defined: “They nominated me for a Golden Globe, however they ignored me on the Oscars as a result of they thought I had simply gotten off the boat and off the streets…though I did it efficiently, they only did not really feel like doing it.” I used to be an actor who needed to be proven some respect.”
He added that he believes the “conceptual concept of range” nonetheless has “an extended solution to go,” explaining: “Systemic racism isn’t going to vary like that anytime quickly.”
like us reportedNonetheless, this isn’t the primary time the actor has spoken brazenly about his struggles within the leisure discipline. He merely mentioned in an interview final September: “I’ve come into the enterprise with some people who find themselves completely fantastic and get little or no reward from me, so I really feel cheated, tremendously cheated, when it comes to funds and workload as properly.”
This revelation is actually surprising, because the actor has appeared, as we talked about above, in a number of the largest and most critically acclaimed movies of the final 30 years. He has additionally appeared in a number of Marvel movies resembling “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Captain Marvel”, two movies within the “A Quiet Place” franchise, “Shazam”, “Aquaman”,… the listing simply goes on and on. . The person even appeared in Janet’s iconic “Love Will By no means Do (With out You)” music video in 1990!
You’ll suppose that an actor with two Oscar nominations, one for “In America” and one for “Blood Diamond,” a number of NAACP Picture Awards, quite a few SAG Award nominations and extra, would haven’t any issue making a dwelling in Hollywood. and but right here. Hounsou speaks vulnerably concerning the lack of alternatives in that trade to this present day for black actors. So far as we’re involved, Hounsou is a top-notch particular person and should not battle with a resume as a lot as that.
this story initially appeared on The Root, our sister web site, on January 11.
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