From Paris Park Benches to Two Oscar Nominations

Djimon Hounsou was born in Benin and moved to France as a teenager. He has told The Guardian that after his brother reported he had left school, he was sent back to Benin for a time, then returned to Lyon. His hopes of a boxing career faded after a few knockouts, and his brother put him out of the apartment. He moved to Paris, where acting work was hard to find, and his student visa then expired. In his words: not only was he homeless, he was also illegal.

He slept on park benches and rode the Métro to keep warm, and he also slept in the library of the Pompidou Centre. The homeless period lasted about 18 months.

The way out came by chance. A man in the square near the Pompidou Centre offered him photography work. Hounsou was wary but followed him, and the shoot led to an audition with the designer Thierry Mugler. He then worked as a model in Paris, with names such as Iman, Naomi Campbell and the photographer Herb Ritts, and finally got an apartment.

Modelling was not his passion. At 22 he moved to Los Angeles with limited English and paid for acting and diction classes with modelling, commercials, dancing in music videos for artists including Janet Jackson, and small film roles.

His break was Steven Spielberg's Amistad in 1997. At the audition he was asked to perform in an African language and used his mother tongue, Goun. He describes that role as the moment his life changed dramatically. He was later nominated for Oscars for In America in 2002 and Blood Diamond in 2006, and he says he felt seriously cheated by the industry and by limited roles. Since then he has mostly taken supporting parts in big franchises.