2020 Edition

Jimmy Jean-Louis

Jimmy Jean-Louis

Haiti

Actor

Jimmy Jean-Louis lived in the slums of Haiti until the age of 12 until he moved to Paris. He worked for three years in a musical theatre in Spain La Belle Epoque before embarking on a successful modelling career in Europe.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to pursue acting. His filmography includes Tears of the Sun with Bruce Wills, Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford, Monster-in-Law with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez, Phat Girlz with Oscar winner Mo'Nique. He also starred in some famous TV series such as Heroes where he portrayed the charismatic Rene aka The Haitian, Arrow, Heroes Reborn, and Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro. He is currently a regular on the number drama of the summer Claws which has been screened at TNT since 2017. His most important role to date is playing the title character in Toussaint Louverture, for which he won the best actor at the Pan African Film Festival and a nomination at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2012.

LAFF will screen his film Desrances