Movies

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. 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 2006-2009. He played the title character in the 2012 French telefilm Toussaint Louverture.

Early life
Jimmy Jean-Louis was born in Pétion-Ville, near Port-au-Prince, 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 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, Seal, and George Michael. He also began appearing in low-budget independent films in Los Angeles.