From Street to HollywoodDjimon Hounsou faced different obstacles through his adolescence,

however he was never defeated and those struggles haven’t stopped him of doing his best on each project he has accepted. Djimon Hounsou was born on April 24th 1964 in Benin, Africa. His family was very big as all families that lived in Africa. Also they didn’t have enough money. As soon as he could work, his father sent him to help his neighbors for some money, but he continued going to school. “Sometimes I felt pretty tired because school and my job”-he said- “but I had to do it, if not my little siblings couldn’t eat that day”. Some years later, a teenager Djimon realized he didn’t want that future for him or his children and it was the right moment to take a decision. He and his brother Edmond, who was four years older than him, traveled to Lyon, France trying to get new and better opportunities. Moving to another country was a hazard, especially because they didn’t have enough money or relatives in France. When they arrived there, Edmond could get a job. Djimon couldn’t. He started to go to school in order to become better than his brother. After one year, he dropped out of school. It not only bored him but also teachers and classmates told him he wasn’t good enough for studies. He thought he was smart, but he missed his family and couldn’t shake the isolation he felt. When Djimon thought things couldn’t be worst, his brother was fired and they became homeless. They both had to sleep under bridges and look for food inside the trash. Time passed but a brilliant future was waiting for him. He was discovered by Thierry Mugler, a fashion designer and photographer who encouraged him to pursue a modeling career. Although he had never taken classes about that, he performed it so well to become a great model. Between 1989 and 1991, Hounsou appeared in the music videos for "Straight Up" by Paula Abdul and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" by Janet Jackson, as well as Madonna's Express Yourself. Then he received wide critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role as Cinqué in the 1997 Steven Spielberg film “Amistad”. Those were his first steps in his career, which has gotten better day by day.In short, he worked hard to overcome severe obstacles and even though it wasn’t easy at first, he found ways to be always the best.