Jimmy Jean-Louis (born August 8, 1968) is a Haitian actor and producer. 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. 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. 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, 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.[5] They tapped him to appear in a Coca-Cola advertisement, the success of which prompted Jean-Louis to spend several years modeling across Europe.[5] In London he worked for brands including 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 had appeared in music videos for Ophelie Winter, En Vogue, Mariah Carey, Seal, and George Michael. He also began appearing in low-budget independent films in Los Angeles.[5]
Acting career
He worked in musical theatre in Barcelona, Spain, spending three years with musical theater "La Belle Epoque",[1][6][7] before moving to Italy where he worked as a model.[3][4] He had 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 was cast in the recurring role of The Haitian on the NBC television series Heroes, playing a character who is an associate of Noah Bennet.[3][5] 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. He portrayed "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 2024, He co-produced and acted in The Goat Life, an Indian-Malayalam language movie.[9][10] he played the role of a Somalian man named Ibrahim Kadhar who knowledge of escape routes.
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.[2] 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. 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.[citation needed]
