Djimon Hounsou 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-born actor, 60, said he doesn’t feel he has been compensated fairly for his work and still faces systemic racism in the industry.
“I’m still struggling trying to make a living,” Hounsou, who earned Oscar nominations for In America (2002) and Blood Diamond (2006), told Larry Madowo. “I’ve been in this business making films now for over two decades with two Oscar nominations, been in many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially. I’m definitely underpaid.”
Hounsou, whose best-known performances include Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000), Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997)and The Quiet Place franchise, went on to discuss racism in Hollywood.
And the Oscar goes to … mess. Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its first awards show in 1929, the ceremony has faced plenty of scandals and criticism. Just one decade into the event’s history, the Academy encounter what would become one of the biggest controversies in Oscars history. In 1940, […]
“I was nominated for the Golden Globe [for Amistad], but they ignored me for the Oscars, talking about the fact that they thought that I had just came off the boat and off the streets,” Hounsou stated in the CNN interview. “Even though I successfully did that [film], they just didn’t feel like I was an actor for whom they should pay any respect. This conceptual idea of diversity still has a long way to go. Systemic racism don’t change like that anytime soon.”
Hounsou — who shares 15-year-old son Kenzo with ex Kimora Lee Simmons and 2-year-old son Fela with partner Ri’Za — has been open about his career struggles in previous interviews. In a 2023 sit-down with The Guardian, Hounsou said he “felt seriously cheated” after his Blood Diamond costar Leonardo DiCaprio got the best actor nod while he was left in the supporting actor category despite the movie focusing on his character’s journey.
“Today, we talk so much about the Oscars being so white, but I remember there was a time where I had no support at all: no support from my own people, no support from the media, from the industry itself. It felt like: ‘You should be happy that you’ve got nominated,’ and that’s that.”
Djimon Hounsou Clay Enos/Netflix
He continued: “I’m still struggling to try to make a dollar! I’ve come up in the business with some people who are absolutely well off and have very little of my accolades. So I feel cheated, tremendously cheated, in terms of finances and in terms of the workload as well.”
“I still have to prove why I need to get paid,” he added later in the interview. “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.’”
When Oscars season rolls around, many stars are wishing to see their name on the nominations list — but it always doesn’t pan out. Even before her Barbie snub, Margot Robbie was overlooked for her previous projects. Robbie had her breakout role in Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013, which she starred […]
In 2025, he’s set to star in Beneath the Storm alongside Phoebe Dynevor and The Zealot with Kodi Smit-McPhee after making appearances in a few DC and Marvel films. Still, Hounsou insisted to The Guardian that studios assumed he “went back” to Africa after Amistad and wasn’t “a true 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 redeem that.”