“kept down by systemic racism,” Djimon Hounsou “struggles to make a living”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the wording is wrong - he struggles to get work probably, and to get paid an appropriate amount for the work he does get. Also, keep in mind that black actors often have additional expenses white actors don't have. I watched a roundtable panel of black actors talking about how there's no-one on crew who knows how to style black hair or can't do it without damaging it, and they often had to go to a nearby barber or salon that has stylists that can cater to black hair. That's an expense white people don't have.

But if you have $4M and can't figure out how to invest in a way to live off that interest, you're doing something wrong. Again, I don't think that's what he means.

You really don't think they can't submit those expenses? Give me a break.

DP and it's not just about the expense. Imagine having to leave a set and find a barber who can style your hair for a role, explain to them what is needed for the role, etc. Versus a white actor who can just pop over to the hair and makeup trailer and have someone who is an expert at doing this kind of thing for film do their hair without having to oversee the whole process. The white actor can run lines, focus on internal character work, get into the proper headspace for the scene. The black actor meanwhile is in an uber coming back from the barber worrying about being late and then criticized for not taking their job seriously even though they are going above and beyond to ensure they look right on film.

It's also a well known fact that black actors are often poorly lit in films and tv because a lot of lighting directors have insufficient understanding of how to light them. I remember Issa Rae talking about this and how they hired a lighting director with a lot of experience in this area an that's why all the black actors on Insecure looked so good. Imagine putting tons of effort into your acting and performance and then you see the movie and your facial expressions aren't as visible as those of the white actors because you are poorly lit? Or think about how that can impact your viability for a role that has neutral race casting in theory -- to what degree does the preference for lighting lighter skinned actors impact a director who just doesn't want to deal with the trouble of lighting someone with darker skin? Think about how stupid it is in 2025 that there would still be people claiming it's too hard to light an actor with dark skin on a movie. This is pure racism but it's also accepted in the industry like "oh yeah everyone knows it's really hard to light a black actor, should we hire Viola Davis for this?" It's idiocy.

Why don't the actors put a proper barber into the contract?

Hollywood is definitely racist, but that one complaint seems like a very easy fix.

If they can write in specific requests down to a certain type of bottle water, surely rhey can write in a proper barber.

Because when white people make less-typical requests, they're being unique and are serious about their craft. When black/brown people do it, they're being unreasonable divas.

Like who? Who was called unreasonable for this?

[Anonymous]

Why is it so hard to accept that it’s harder for a talented African actor to find good roles in American film? He’s allowed to call attention to the reality and explain how it affects him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

He's half Italian. DeNiro and Pacino spent a long time as mobsters. Many other lesser knowns are always gangsters. Also ask any woman over 40 how fair all this is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to accept that it’s harder for a talented African actor to find good roles in American film? He’s allowed to call attention to the reality and explain how it affects him.

He can, and others can point out how difficult of a field it is to succeed for anyone. He's not special he's not even that talented to be honest.

[Anonymous]

I think it's hard for a lot of people. If you want to stick to Hollywood, you have to hustle with your own concepts, write specs, etc. And maybe he has done that Idk. But roles are hard to come by for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

He's half Italian. DeNiro and Pacino spent a long time as mobsters. Many other lesser knowns are always gangsters. Also ask any woman over 40 how fair all this is.

Lol DeNiro and Pacino are terrible examples. DeNiro's breakout movie was Godfather II but he followed it up with Taxi Driver (gritty, realistic movie where he plays a working class loner with mental health issues), The 1900 (Italian period drama where he plays a wealthy landowner in northern Italy at the turn of the 20th century), and The Last Tycoon (romantic period drama where he plays a young American movie producer in 1930s Hollywood). Literally all three of those movies came out in 1976, two years after he played young Vito Corleone. That's a lot of variety.

Pacino's breakout role was Godfather I and while he's revived his mobster bona fides many times over his long career, back in the 70s post Godfather his biggest roles were cops and robbers -- Serpico (cop), Dog Day Afternoon (robber). Also even when he's played a mobster, they haven't all been Italian or Italian-American. Scarface is arguably his most iconic role (even more so than Michael Corleone) and he plays a Cuban drug lord in it.

Hollywood was made for actors like Pacino, DeNiro, DiCaprio, Brando -- white guys!

I agree women over 40 have to struggle for roles and it's very unfair. Also women over 40 in Hollywood talk about this all the time. So I don't get why Hounsou talking about his own experience with a career that has obviously been curtailed by the unwillingness of Hollywood to tell many stories about people who look like him even though there are many, many people who look like him in the world is such a problem. He's right. He has had fewer opportunities as a result of being a black man, especially a dark-skinned black man from Africa. This is not a controversial statement unless you shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and go "LALALALA ROBERT DENIRO WAS TYPECAST TOO LALALALALALA."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to accept that it’s harder for a talented African actor to find good roles in American film? He’s allowed to call attention to the reality and explain how it affects him.

He can, and others can point out how difficult of a field it is to succeed for anyone. He's not special he's not even that talented to be honest.

Please name an actor you think is talented.

Also, have you actually seen him act? He's an extraordinarily compelling actor especially when giving meaty roles. He also has a lot of charisma and his face is very compelling on screen.

I can think of dozens of much more mediocre talents who have been given far more interesting roles (and made little of them).

[Anonymous]

He had DEI nominations and is not that great of an actor. Inflated ego.

Now Mo'Nique? 100% systemic racism ruined her career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

He's half Italian. DeNiro and Pacino spent a long time as mobsters. Many other lesser knowns are always gangsters. Also ask any woman over 40 how fair all this is.

Lol DeNiro and Pacino are terrible examples. DeNiro's breakout movie was Godfather II but he followed it up with Taxi Driver (gritty, realistic movie where he plays a working class loner with mental health issues), The 1900 (Italian period drama where he plays a wealthy landowner in northern Italy at the turn of the 20th century), and The Last Tycoon (romantic period drama where he plays a young American movie producer in 1930s Hollywood). Literally all three of those movies came out in 1976, two years after he played young Vito Corleone. That's a lot of variety.

Pacino's breakout role was Godfather I and while he's revived his mobster bona fides many times over his long career, back in the 70s post Godfather his biggest roles were cops and robbers -- Serpico (cop), Dog Day Afternoon (robber). Also even when he's played a mobster, they haven't all been Italian or Italian-American. Scarface is arguably his most iconic role (even more so than Michael Corleone) and he plays a Cuban drug lord in it.

Hollywood was made for actors like Pacino, DeNiro, DiCaprio, Brando -- white guys!

I agree women over 40 have to struggle for roles and it's very unfair. Also women over 40 in Hollywood talk about this all the time. So I don't get why Hounsou talking about his own experience with a career that has obviously been curtailed by the unwillingness of Hollywood to tell many stories about people who look like him even though there are many, many people who look like him in the world is such a problem. He's right. He has had fewer opportunities as a result of being a black man, especially a dark-skinned black man from Africa. This is not a controversial statement unless you shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and go "LALALALA ROBERT DENIRO WAS TYPECAST TOO LALALALALALA."

You picked a half Italian to make your point. You tried though! Lots of Italians are typecast, as we can see and as you demonstrated. Ask overweight women what they think of being typecast as the "funny sidekick". Maybe pick a more talented actor to make your point here become Djimon is pretty forgettable a lot of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it so hard to accept that it’s harder for a talented African actor to find good roles in American film? He’s allowed to call attention to the reality and explain how it affects him.

He can, and others can point out how difficult of a field it is to succeed for anyone. He's not special he's not even that talented to be honest.

Please name an actor you think is talented.

Also, have you actually seen him act? He's an extraordinarily compelling actor especially when giving meaty roles. He also has a lot of charisma and his face is very compelling on screen.

I can think of dozens of much more mediocre talents who have been given far more interesting roles (and made little of them).

Look you're on a roll here and are going to try to dissect anyone else. Fact is, if he was a better actor or better looking he'd have his choice of roles.

[Anonymous]

Oh boy the blm picket lines are already forming. lol cry me a river.

[Anonymous]

Before any judgements are made we would need to see a list of every movie, production, TV show, or Ad that he was in with the pay next to it. Maybe if he was a white guy he wouldn't have been offered a role at all (although you would never know). These items are separate from how he saved or spent his money. However, the moment he brings up that he is struggling financially all of these things are open for discussion. First lets see a list of what he was paid for each and every job he worked on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

He's half Italian. DeNiro and Pacino spent a long time as mobsters. Many other lesser knowns are always gangsters. Also ask any woman over 40 how fair all this is.

Lol DeNiro and Pacino are terrible examples. DeNiro's breakout movie was Godfather II but he followed it up with Taxi Driver (gritty, realistic movie where he plays a working class loner with mental health issues), The 1900 (Italian period drama where he plays a wealthy landowner in northern Italy at the turn of the 20th century), and The Last Tycoon (romantic period drama where he plays a young American movie producer in 1930s Hollywood). Literally all three of those movies came out in 1976, two years after he played young Vito Corleone. That's a lot of variety.

Pacino's breakout role was Godfather I and while he's revived his mobster bona fides many times over his long career, back in the 70s post Godfather his biggest roles were cops and robbers -- Serpico (cop), Dog Day Afternoon (robber). Also even when he's played a mobster, they haven't all been Italian or Italian-American. Scarface is arguably his most iconic role (even more so than Michael Corleone) and he plays a Cuban drug lord in it.

Hollywood was made for actors like Pacino, DeNiro, DiCaprio, Brando -- white guys!

I agree women over 40 have to struggle for roles and it's very unfair. Also women over 40 in Hollywood talk about this all the time. So I don't get why Hounsou talking about his own experience with a career that has obviously been curtailed by the unwillingness of Hollywood to tell many stories about people who look like him even though there are many, many people who look like him in the world is such a problem. He's right. He has had fewer opportunities as a result of being a black man, especially a dark-skinned black man from Africa. This is not a controversial statement unless you shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and go "LALALALA ROBERT DENIRO WAS TYPECAST TOO LALALALALALA."

You picked a half Italian to make your point. You tried though! Lots of Italians are typecast, as we can see and as you demonstrated. Ask overweight women what they think of being typecast as the "funny sidekick". Maybe pick a more talented actor to make your point here become Djimon is pretty forgettable a lot of the time.

Literally the preceding comment shows the many ways in which the Italian actors mentioned are not typecast, are offered a broad variety of roles.

It is weird you are choosing Italian as your hill to die on here, and then chose Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, two actors with some of the most successful and varied careers in Hollywood, as examples of Italian actors who have been typecast. Like you might have an argument it's just you chose the weirdest possible examples to make it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's called aging out. He is a Gen X actor who had a prime in the 2000s.

He's also made a ton of really, reallllllllly bad movies.

That's the whole point -- he's made a bunch of terrible movies because he wants to work and those are the only jobs he gets offered. And it's not about aging out -- he's been having this problem for 20 years even when he was fresh off of Amistad or Blood Diamond, high profile prestige movies where his work was extremely well reviewed.

The PP who said he gets typecast is correct and let's be even more clear -- he gets typecast as a slave because of his appearance. He's played a slave in multiple movies. How many white actors have played a slave multiple times? How is that NOT systemic racism. It is so weird to me people are even arguing this.

Italian actors get typecast too. But, acting is a choice. it pays well if you're good at it but nobody said it would be easy. There's a reason a lot of them are "struggling actors".

Yet Leonardo DiCaprio, an Italian actor who was nominated for his first Golden Globe the same year as Hounsou (in arguably a less challenging role -- DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic, Hounsou for Amistad) has not been typecast and has enjoyed a varied and highly successful career. Hounsou is as talented an actor as DiCaprio. But there are a lot more roles for someone with DiCaprio's looks because Hollywood tells way more stories about white men than it does about black men, especially dark-skinned black men from West Africa.

That is literally systemic racism at work.

He's half Italian. DeNiro and Pacino spent a long time as mobsters. Many other lesser knowns are always gangsters. Also ask any woman over 40 how fair all this is.

Lol DeNiro and Pacino are terrible examples. DeNiro's breakout movie was Godfather II but he followed it up with Taxi Driver (gritty, realistic movie where he plays a working class loner with mental health issues), The 1900 (Italian period drama where he plays a wealthy landowner in northern Italy at the turn of the 20th century), and The Last Tycoon (romantic period drama where he plays a young American movie producer in 1930s Hollywood). Literally all three of those movies came out in 1976, two years after he played young Vito Corleone. That's a lot of variety.

Pacino's breakout role was Godfather I and while he's revived his mobster bona fides many times over his long career, back in the 70s post Godfather his biggest roles were cops and robbers -- Serpico (cop), Dog Day Afternoon (robber). Also even when he's played a mobster, they haven't all been Italian or Italian-American. Scarface is arguably his most iconic role (even more so than Michael Corleone) and he plays a Cuban drug lord in it.

Hollywood was made for actors like Pacino, DeNiro, DiCaprio, Brando -- white guys!

I agree women over 40 have to struggle for roles and it's very unfair. Also women over 40 in Hollywood talk about this all the time. So I don't get why Hounsou talking about his own experience with a career that has obviously been curtailed by the unwillingness of Hollywood to tell many stories about people who look like him even though there are many, many people who look like him in the world is such a problem. He's right. He has had fewer opportunities as a result of being a black man, especially a dark-skinned black man from Africa. This is not a controversial statement unless you shut your eyes and put your fingers in your ears and go "LALALALA ROBERT DENIRO WAS TYPECAST TOO LALALALALALA."

You picked a half Italian to make your point. You tried though! Lots of Italians are typecast, as we can see and as you demonstrated. Ask overweight women what they think of being typecast as the "funny sidekick". Maybe pick a more talented actor to make your point here become Djimon is pretty forgettable a lot of the time.

Literally the preceding comment shows the many ways in which the Italian actors mentioned are not typecast, are offered a broad variety of roles.

It is weird you are choosing Italian as your hill to die on here, and then chose Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, two actors with some of the most successful and varied careers in Hollywood, as examples of Italian actors who have been typecast. Like you might have an argument it's just you chose the weirdest possible examples to make it.

Please. Both Neniro and Pacino have been in dozens of gangster movies. It's what they are known for. Was Hounsou a slave in that infamous Janet Jackson video? He's had several non slave acting roles but none are particularly memorable. Shazam anyone?