Djimon Hounsou is a two-time Academy Award-nominated Beninois-American actor and model. He was born in Cotonou, Benin, the son of Albertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Paris at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond, and moved to the U.S. in 1990. One year before obtaining his college degree he dropped out of school. He lived on the streets for a while until he was discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who made him a model, leading him into acting.

Hounsou's film debut was in the 1990 Sandra Bernhard film Without You I’m Nothing, and he has had television parts on Beverly Hills, 90210 and ER and a guest starring role on Alias, but received a larger role in the science fiction film Stargate. His first on-screen appearance was in the 1990 Janet Jacksonvideo “Love Will Never Do (Without You)”, which co-starred Antonio Sabato, Jr. He also starred in a 2002 Gap commercial directed by Peter Lindbergh, dancing to a rendition of John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" by Arrested Development's Baba Oje.

He received wide critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role as Cinqué in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film Amistad. He gained further notice as Juba, in the 2000 film Gladiator. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for In America, in 2004, becoming the first black African to be nominated for an Oscar. That same year, Charlize Theron a South African actress was nominated for her work in Monster, and was the first time that two African-born performers were nominated for an Oscar in the same year. In 2006, he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Blood Diamond; he received Broadcast Film Critics Association, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Academy Award nominations for this performance.

On February 24, 2007, it was announced that Hounsou will be the new Calvin Klein underwear model. Starting with the Fall 2007 season, he was featured in the brand’s global print advertising campaign including the launch of their new Calvin Klein Steel product line.

Director Tim Story recently mentioned to IGN that if he was to do a third Fantastic Four movie, he would like to have Hounsou as the Black Panther. In November 2008, it was announced that Hounsou will be providing the voice of the Black Panther in the upcoming animated series of the same name. Also, David Jaffe expressed interest in seeing Hounsou portray the hero and main character, Kratos, in an upcoming movie based on the hit video game God of War.

Since 2007, Hounsou has been dating model and CEO of fashion line Baby Phat Kimora Lee Simmons; in January 2009, US Magazine reported that Kimora and Hounsou are expecting a child together in 2009. He had a boy with Kimora on 30th May 2009. Djimon and Kimora have named their son Kenzo Lee Hounsou reports assume after Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada. He is now a naturalized U.S. citizen and owns a house in Los Angeles.