Djimon Hounsou is handsome enough to have worked as a runway model and talented enough to have nabbed two Oscar nominations, for 2000’s In America and 2006’s Blood Diamond. But is any other actor today as often used as living set dressing?
Hollywood has well-documented trouble putting actors of color in central roles, but Djimon Hounsou's career has been a continuing example of what happens when that failure is compounded by foreignness. Though Hounsou was born in Bénin, he's lived in the U.S. for the past 25 years and when he's not being cast as exotic, helpful warrior types, he's frequently playing exotic, menacing lackeys. Blame the industry's dire lack of imagination (something Hounsou's well aware of).
So, here's a ranking of the sidekicks and henchmen Hounsou's played to date, including his most recent one in Seventh Son, which is currently in theaters. And here's hoping we can one day rank his starring roles.
Djimon Hounson in Seventh Son, via Universal Pictures
Horus, Stargate (1994)
Henchman or sidekick? Henchman to Ra (Jaye Davidson), who, as far as bosses go, is kind of a hardass.
Sample line: "We looked everywhere. Some kids are helping them."
That's Hounsou's only line in the Roland Emmerich movie that would launch a franchise. As small as his part was (it was also one of his earliest), it also neatly foreshadowed the type in which he'd frequently be cast.
Lionsgate
Kosa, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Henchman or sidekick? Sidekick to Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie), who calls on him when she heads to Tanzania to find whatever it is this movie's about.
Sample line: "Do you ever do anything the easy way?"
Kosa gets the dubious honor of being Lara Croft's African Friend, a plot device to serve as evidence of her cosmopolitan, well-traveled ways. He helps her out as a translator, and then gets captured, along with everyone else, when the baddies arrive. The shameless thinness of Hounsou's role here is mitigated only slightly by the fact that this entire globe-trotting sequel treats the countries it visits (and the people in them) as fab backdrops for Lara's action stylings and opportunities to show off her wide-ranging designer wardrobe for all climates.
Alex Bailey/Paramount Pictures
Vivo, Deep Rising (1998)
Henchman or sidekick? Henchman to Hanover (Wes Studi), whose team of trained mercenaries aims to rob a luxury cruise ship before a deadly sea monster gets in the way.
Sample line: "I thought you liked to blow things up." "I do."
As Vivo, Hounsou mostly stands around looking tough, but he makes the most of a light moment relishing what he thinks is going to be a major payday. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out as well as the character hoped.
Mill Creek Entertainment
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