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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is almost certainly underpaid for an actor with his resume and success, especially compared to white actors with similar skills. It is has been well documented that black actors make less than white actors even playing similar roles in similar movies. I think this is especially true for actors considered "serious" because it eliminates some of the bigger money-making options for a black actor. You can't to Amistad and a Tyler Perry movie. But white actors are allowed to move between low comedy and high drama (see, for example, Johan Hill).

When he says he struggles to make a living, he means he is struggling for roles. He is struggling to make a living in his chosen profession, which is film acting. That is valid even if of course he could leave acting and find other ways to make money. But actually, as a black man from West Africa, he would also face discrimination in almost any job he chose to pursue in the US or UK.

He does not say he lives in poverty. But he is very likely underpaid and based on the experiences of other highly successful black actors, it IS a systemic issue that is almost certainly attributable to racism.

African immigrants make roughly the same income as white Americans. The black/white income disparity doesn't hold with immigrants, only with people born here. Look it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with his point about systemic racism but I wonder if his accent has really limited his roles. Can you think of any mainstream actor with a non-American accent? The British ones like Tom Holland do really good American fakes, as does Nicole Kidman. Can he fake a good American accent? I think that’s really important if you want to male it in Hollywood.

I actually feel like he doesn’t have much of an accent. I was surprised, particularly because he is a native French speaker.

Here are the original article/video interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with his point about systemic racism but I wonder if his accent has really limited his roles. Can you think of any mainstream actor with a non-American accent? The British ones like Tom Holland do really good American fakes, as does Nicole Kidman. Can he fake a good American accent? I think that’s really important if you want to male it in Hollywood.

I actually feel like he doesn’t have much of an accent. I was surprised, particularly because he is a native French speaker.

Here are the original article/video interviews.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/entertainment/djimon-hounsou-systemic-racism-black-people-african-roots-spc

[Anonymous]

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.

Not casting white peopl as slaves in movies like Amistad is systemic racism?

That is some very convoluted thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with his point about systemic racism but I wonder if his accent has really limited his roles. Can you think of any mainstream actor with a non-American accent? The British ones like Tom Holland do really good American fakes, as does Nicole Kidman. Can he fake a good American accent? I think that’s really important if you want to male it in Hollywood.

Shwarzenegger eventually moved past it but most don’t. But he had very limited speaking roles for a long time.

Schwarzenegger was also almost completely typecast as an action hero who fired guns while dropping occasionally funny one liners. He had a couple of comedy films but mostly his talent was looking big and shooting guns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe his relationship with Kimora proved to be a liability to his career?

I mean, if Kevin Hart can become an A list celeb playing the leading man in multiple films, then I don’t think it’s fair to allege systemic racism in Hollywood.

^^^
Talent and like-ability matter

Maybe he is difficult to work with, beyond typical Hollywood diva behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with his point about systemic racism but I wonder if his accent has really limited his roles. Can you think of any mainstream actor with a non-American accent? The British ones like Tom Holland do really good American fakes, as does Nicole Kidman. Can he fake a good American accent? I think that’s really important if you want to male it in Hollywood.

Shwarzenegger eventually moved past it but most don’t. But he had very limited speaking roles for a long time.

Schwarzenegger was also almost completely typecast as an action hero who fired guns while dropping occasionally funny one liners. He had a couple of comedy films but mostly his talent was looking big and shooting guns.

What actor doesn’t struggle with being typecast? It’s more common than not.