Two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou is getting candid about his career and Hollywood’s diversity problem.
According to Variety, while appearing on CNN’s African Voices, the actor opened up to host Larry Madowo about his struggles working in Hollywood. Despite his Oscar nominations for his work in Blood Diamond and In America, not to mention several roles in major studio releases, Hounsou still struggles within the “systemic racism” embedded in Hollywood.
“I am still struggling trying to make a living,” he said. “After 30 years… maybe the first 10 years was trying to acclimate myself to the industry, to establish myself. But I’ve been in this business making films now for over two decades, and with two Oscar nominations and being in many blockbuster films, and yet, I’m still struggling financially to make a living. I’m definitely underpaid.”
He added, “That’s a sign for you that systemic racism is not something you can deal with lightly. It’s so deeply inserted in so many things we do across the board. You don’t overcome it. You just sort of have to cope with it and survive the best way you can.”
Through Hounsou’s almost four-decade-long career, he’s appeared in major projects like Furious 7, two Shazam! films, several Marvel movies (Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel), as well as two of the A Quiet Place franchise films (A Quiet Place: Part II and A Quiet Place: Day One). He also appeared in Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning film Gladiator.
This isn’t the first time Hounsou has opened up about his paychecks. In 2023, he told The Guardian that he feels “tremendously cheated” about the compensation he receives for his work.
“I’ve come up in the business with some people who are absolutely well off and have very little of my accolades,” he explained. “So I feel cheated in terms of finances and in terms of the workload as well.”
He continued, “I’ve gone to studios for meetings and they’re like: ‘Wow, we felt like you just got off the boat and then went back [after Amistad]. We didn’t know you were here as 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. But it is what it is. It’s up to me to redeem that.”
Hounsou went on to explain that he has to “prove why I need to get paid,” and he has “yet to meet the film that paid me fairly.”
Hounsou’s most recent work includes Zack Snyder’s two Rebel Moon movies on Netflix and A Quiet Place prequel A Quiet Place: Day One. He is set to star in Beneath the Storm alongside Phoebe Dynevor, which releases Aug. 1 in theaters.
The post Djimon Hounsou Says He’s ‘Stuggling Trying To Make A Living’ In Hollywood Despite Oscar Noms, Blockbuster Films appeared first on Blavity.