Jimmy Jean-Louis (born August 8, 1968) is a Haitian actor and producer. Born in Pétion-Ville, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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."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. Eventually settling in

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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. He played the character of " the Haitian" on the NBC television series '' Heroes'' from 2007 to 2010. He played the title character in the 2012 French telefilm ''

Toussaint Louverture François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (, ) also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda (20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), was a Haitian general and the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. During his life, Louvertu ...

''. In 2024, he co-produced and acted in the Indian film '' The Goat Life'' alongside Prithviraj.

Early life

Jimmy Jean-Louis was born in Pétion-Ville, near

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, Haiti. 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. He enrolled in business courses, but quickly realized that his heart lay in performance, and studied at the Académie Internationale de la Danse. His parents returned to Haiti, but Jean-Louis and his brother remained in Paris. Around a decade later in 1991, producers discovered Jean-Louis during one of his dancing stints in a French club. They tapped him to appear in a Coca-Cola advertisement, the success of which prompted Jean-Louis to spend several years modeling across Europe. In

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

he worked for brands including Gianfranco Ferré and Valentino. Before finding success as a model, he was homeless at times in Paris. By the mid-'90s, he had appeared in music videos for Ophelie Winter, En Vogue,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

, and

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

. He also began appearing in low-budget independent films in Los Angeles.

Acting career

He worked in musical theatre in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain, spending three years with musical theater "La Belle Epoque", before moving to Italy where he worked as a model. He had secondary roles in '' Tears of the Sun'', '' Hollywood Homicide'', '' Monster-in-Law'' and '' The Game of Their Lives''. He was cast as the romantic lead in the 2006 film '' Phat Girlz'' starring opposite

Mo'Nique Monique Angela Hicks (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known mononymously as Mo'Nique, is an American comedian and actress. She debuted as a member of The Queens of Comedy and earned recognition as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. In 2 ...

as her love interest. He was cast in the recurring role of The Haitian on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television series '' Heroes'', playing a character who is an associate of

Noah Bennet This is a list of fictional characters in the television series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'', the List of Heroes graphic novels, ''Heroes'' graphic novels, and the ''Heroes'' webisodes. Main characters Character duration In i ...

. In an interview on '' The Post Show'' on G4, Jean-Louis stated that the Haitian was originally supposed to be from New Zealand, and that the character was going to be named "The Kiwi". He stated that he auditioned three times for the role of D.L. Hawkins, a part which he did not get. In 2013, it was announced that Jean-Louis had been cast in a recurring role in ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

''. He portrayed "The Captain", an associate of Professor Ivo. 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 A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tars ...

but was upgraded to a starring role in season 2. In 2018, he was a jury member at the

Monte-Carlo Television Festival The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is held every year in June in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum, under the Honorary Presidency of H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert II of Monaco. The opening ceremony ...

and Angouleme Film Festival. In 2019 he both produced and starred in 'Rattlesnakes', based on the stage play by Graham Farrow. In 2024, He co-produced and acted in ''The Goat Life'', an Indian-Malayalam language movie. he played the role of a Somalian man named Ibrahim Kadhar who knowledge of escape routes.

Personal life

Jean-Louis and his wife Evelyn have three children. He enjoys watching and playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and is a member of an amateur soccer club Hollywood United F.C., a team consisting mostly of celebrities and former professionals. He is fluent in five languages: English, French, Spanish,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, and

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

. Jean-Louis received the key to Miami-Dade County on January 10, 2010 from Mayor Carlos Alvarez. He also received the key to the city of North Miami on May 3, 2018 from Mayor Joseph Smith. He is a patron of the BrandAID Project.BRANDAID PATRONS

2010 Haiti earthquake efforts

After the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

, Jean-Louis went to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

to search for his elderly parents in Haiti the day after a powerful earthquake struck the nation. Jean-Louis learned that a house he had grown up in collapsed, killing several of his relatives. 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. The group mobilized for disaster relief after the magnitude-7 earthquake. Jean-Louis has taken part in a series of campaigns for Haitian aid, such as singing in the "

We Are The World "We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album '' We Are the World''. With sales in excess of 20 milli ...

" remake of the original for Haiti in February 2010 which aired during the start of the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. As the Ambassador of the Pan American Development Foundation for Haitian children, Jean-Louis testified to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

on their behalf in 2010. Jean-Louis was named

Ambassador-at-large An ambassador-at-large is a diplomat, a secretary of state, secretary, or a minister (government), minister of the highest rank who is accredited to represent a country and its people internationally. Unlike an ambassador-in-residence, who is us ...

by President

Michel Martelly Michel Joseph Martelly (; born 12 February 1961) is a Haitian musician and politician who served as the 42nd president of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. On August 20, 2024, the United States sanctioned the former president for traffic ...

in 2014.

Awards

* 2012 Best Actor Nomination ( Toussaint Louverture (film)) -

Africa Movie Academy Awards The Africa Movie Academy Awards is an annual entertainment award ceremony presented to recognize excellence among African and non-African professionals, who have contributed to the African film industry. The award was founded by Peace Anyiam-Osig ...

* 2012 MPAH Haiti Movie Awards Honorary Award
Motion Picture Association of Haiti
* 2012 Meilleur Acteur - Festival Vues_d'Afrique * 2012 Best Actor Toussaint Louverture (film) - Pan African Film Festival * 2013 Excellence in the Arts prize - Caribbean American Heritage Award * 2015 Best Documentary Nomination ( Jimmy Goes to Nollywood) -

* 2015 Best Documentary Nomination ( Jimmy Goes to Nollywood) -

* 2017 Best Supporting Actor - Hollywood African Prestigious Awards * 2019 Career Achievement Award - Montreal International Black Film Festival * 2019 Meilleur Acteur de la Diaspora Africaine ( Desrances) - Sotigui Awards * 2019 Sotigui D'Or - Sotigui Awards * 2019 Impact In Entertainment Award - Face2Face Africa * 2020 Best Actor Win at the

* 2023 Best Supporting Actor Win at the

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Official home page
*
Interview with Jimmy Jean-Louis from The Company Podcast
*Jean-Louis' non-profit charitable aid organizatio
Hollywood Unites for HaitiJimmy Jean-Louis @ ECI Global Talent Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jean-Louis, Jimmy 1968 births Living people Haitian male models Haitian men's footballers American male actors Hollywood United F.C. players People from Port-au-Prince Haitian emigrants to the United States 20th-century male actors 21st-century Haitian male actors 20th-century Haitian people Men's association football players not categorized by position