Jimmy Jean-Louis

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Jimmy Jean-Louis
Jimmy Jean-Louis by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Jean-Louis at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born (1968-08-08) August 8, 1968 (age 53)
Pétion-Ville, Haiti
OccupationActor - Producer - Ambassador-at-large to Haiti
Years active1993–present
Websitehttp://jimmyjeanlouis.com

Jimmy Jean-Louis (born August 8, 1968) is a Haitian actor and producer best known for his role as "the Haitian" on the NBC television series Heroes. Born in Pétion-Ville, he moved to Paris at a young age with his family in search of a better life. His early roles were in French television commercials and Spanish musical theatre.[1] Eventually settling in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, he had small roles in The Bourne Identity, Tears of the Sun and Arliss before breaking into larger roles in American television and film. His most important role to date is playing the title character in Toussaint Louverture. He starred in and produced the movie Rattlesnakes. He had a starring role on season two of the television show Claws.

Early life[]

Jean-Louis was born in Pétion-Ville, near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.[2][3] He lived there until the age of twelve, when he moved to Paris with his family to pursue a modeling career, after moving he experienced a culture shock because of the rural to city lifestyle change.[2][3][4] He enrolled in business courses, but quickly realized that his heart lay in performance, and studied at the Académie Internationale de la Danse.[5] His parents returned to Haiti, but Jean-Louis and his brother remained in Paris.[4] Around a decade later in 1991, producers discovered Jean-Louis during one of his dancing stints in a French club, who were impressed.[5] They tapped him to appear in a Coca-Cola advertisement, the success of which prompted the Jean-Louis to spend several years modeling across Europe.[5] He was very successful in London, working for such notables as Gianfranco Ferré and Valentino.[4][5] Before finding success as a model, he was homeless at times in Paris.[4] By the mid-'90s, he was gracing music videos by such stars as Ophelie Winter, En Vogue, Mariah Carey, Seal, and George Michael, and appearing in low-budget "independent" films in Los Angeles.[5]

Personal life[]

Jean-Louis is married to his wife, Evelyn, and they have three children.[4] He enjoys watching and playing soccer and is a member of an amateur soccer club Hollywood United F.C., a team consisting mostly of celebrities and former professionals.[4] He is fluent in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Haitian Creole.[3][4] Jean-Louis received the Key to the Miami-Dade County on January 10, 2010 by Mayor Carlos Alvarez (mayor). He also received the Key to City of North Miami on May 3, 2018 by North Miami Mayor, Dr. Smith Joseph.

2010 Haiti earthquake efforts[]

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Jean-Louis went to Haiti to search for his elderly parents in Haiti the day after a powerful earthquake struck the nation.[2] Jean-Louis learned that a house he had grown up in collapsed, killing several of his relatives.[2] He is the founder of Hollywood Unites for Haiti, a non-profit charitable aid organization whose original mission was to provide sports and cultural education to underprivileged youth on the island.[2] The group mobilized for disaster relief after the magnitude-7 earthquake struck.[2] Recently, Jean-Louis has taken part in a series of campaigns for Haitian aid, such as singing in the "We Are The World" remake of the original for Haiti in February 2010 which aired during the start of the Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As the Ambassador of the Pan American Development Foundation for Haitian children, Jean-Louis testified to the United States Congress on their behalf in 2010. Jimmy Jean-Louis was named Ambassador-at-large to Haiti by His Excelency President Michel Martelly in 2014.

Acting career[]

He worked in musical theatre in Barcelona, Spain, spending three years with a musical theater "La Belle Epoque",[1][6][7] before moving to Italy where he created a successful career as an international model.[3][4] In 1995, he appeared in several episodes of an erotic French TV program.[4] Jimmy moved to Los Angeles where he began acting full-time in underground and independent films.[3][4] This eventually led to him landing a role in Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie Derailed, which set the stage for subsequent roles with other Hollywood A-listers.[4] He went on to have secondary roles in Tears of the Sun, Hollywood Homicide, Monster-in-Law and The Game of Their Lives.[3][4] He was cast as the romantic lead in the 2006 film Phat Girlz starring opposite Mo'Nique as her love interest.[3][4] He achieved his most widespread fame, however, when cast in the recurring role of The Haitian on the NBC television series Heroes, who is an associate of Noah Bennet.[3][5] In an interview on The Post Show on G4, Jimmy Jean-Louis stated that the Haitian was originally supposed to be from New Zealand, and that the character was going to be "The Kiwi", which is a colloquial term for the people of New Zealand. He also stated that he auditioned three times for the role of D.L. Hawkins, a part which he did not get. His most important role to date is playing the title character in Toussaint Louverture (film) and won Best Actor at the Pan African Film Festival, he was also nominated for Best Actor at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. In 2013, it was announced that he'd been cast in a recurring role in Arrow. He will portray "The Captain", an associate of Professor Ivo.[citation needed] In 2015, he took on a supporting role in the British film, The Cursed Ones. He had a recurring role on season one of Claws but was upgraded to a starring role in season 2. In 2018, he was a jury member at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival and . In 2019 he both produced and starred in 'Rattlesnakes', based on the stage play by Graham Farrow.[8] He has received the highest honors in 2019 in Africa by winning the Best Actor in the Diaspora and Sotigui d’Or for his lead role in the feature film at the

In 2020, Jimmy Jean-Louis won Best Actor in a Leading role in at the Africa Movie Academy Awards

Awards[]

Jimmy Jean-Louis at the Golden Stars of French cinema ceremony in 2011.

Filmography[]

Film
Year Film Role Notes
2002 Derailed Henry
The Bourne Identity Wombosi bodyguard #5 Uncredited
2003 Tears of the Sun Gideon
Hollywood Homicide Gianfranco Ferre Clerk
This Girl's Life Action Jackson
2005 Monster-in-Law Prince Amir
Ferdinand
The Game of Their Lives Joe Gaetjens
2006 Phat Girlz Dr. Tunde Jonathan
Ralph Haitian film
Le President a-t-il Le Sida Dao Haitian Film by Arnold Antonin
2008 Diary of a Tired Black Man James
Adventures of Power Aubelin
Loaded Antonio
The Ball is Round Jay Jay Mfede Also known as Golden Goal! (USA)
2009 Orpailleur Myrtha
Moloch Tropical Francis
I Sing of a Well Narrator
2010 Loki French film
Sinking Sands Jimah Sanson
Relentless Candidate
The Penthouse Buzz McManus
2011 L'homme au tableau
2012 Toussaint Louverture Toussaint Louverture French telefilm
2013 One Night In Vegas Nick
Doctor Bello
Puyferrat
JJL
2015 The Cursed Ones Paladin UK/Ghanaian film by Zissou Pictures Ltd.
Joy Toussaint
2016 Toussaint
2017 Cargo Jean
Damien
Esohe Gary Baba Nigerian/USA film
2018 Ramson
2019 Rattlesnakes Robert McQueen
Francis Desrances
Max
2020 Citation (film) Lucien N'Dyare
Rise Modu
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Emmanuelle Forever
Emmanuelle's Love
Emmanuelle's Magic Tribesman in the hut
Emmanuelle's Secret
Emmanuelle in Venice
2001 Arliss Caesar Montenez 1 episode
2003 The District Jean-Paul Bertrand 1 episode
Fastlane Haitian #1 1 episode
2005 Dr. Vegas Xola 1 episode
The Shield Ididsa Okoye Episode: "A Thousand Deaths"
2006–2009 Heroes The Haitian Recurring role (32 episodes)
2007 Heroes Unmasked Himself 3 episodes
2010 Entertainment Tonight Himself February 4, 2010
The Mo'Nique Show Himself February 4, 2010
2013 Arrow The Captain Recurring role
2014 Extant Pierre Lyon 2 episodes
2015 Heroes Reborn The Haitian Recurring role (6 episodes)
2017 Claws Dr. Gregory Ruval Recurring role (season 1)
Starring role (season 2)
2017 The Brave Lieutenant 1 episode
2017 Eric Toussaint 6 episodes
2017 The Way Inspector Morand 10 episodes
2018 S.W.A.T Sal Desir 1 episode
2019 SMILF Henri 1 episode

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Haitian actor Jimmy Jean-Louis joins cast of ‘Heroes Reborn’ on NBC", interview by Taroue Brooks, Rolling Out, 13 August 2015. Accessed 12 April 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Jo Piazza, Special to CNN. "'Heroes' actor searching for parents after earthquake". CNN.com. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Jimmy Jean-Louis". IMDb. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hiatt, Anna (January 16, 2010). "Jimmy Jean-Louis". TV.com. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Jimmy Jean-Louis Biography". Starpulse.com. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  6. ^ Jimmy Jean-Louis biography at the Mobile Film Festival 12th Edition website (in Spanish and several other languages). Accessed 12 April 2017.
  7. ^ Jimmy Jean-Louis biography on Comme au Cinéma (in French). Accessed 12 April 2017.
  8. ^ Rattlesnakes, retrieved April 5, 2020

External links[]

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