Cultural Icon Award

This award is our festival’s highest award, and is exclusively presented to individuals who have demonstrated years of dogged commitment to showcasing and uplifting the image of Africa and its diaspora through creative expressions. It is an opportunity to celebrate, honor and thank our cultural ambassadors for their inspiring work and role in sharing Africa’s story with the global community.

Haitian-born Jean-Louis grew up in the slums of PetitionVille until age 12 and has since gone on to become an Award winning Actor, Producer & Philanthropist, and a global cultural Ambassador to Haiti, while continuing to forge a unique career on the world stage Jimmy stars in the Netflix feature CITATION, one of the top-rated films in Nigeria, which recently won two prestigious National Film Awards in the UK. He won the prestigious African Movie Academy Award as Best Actor in Apolline Traore’s film

Desrances

Jimmy Jean-Louis plays opposite screen legend BRUCE WILLIS in the upcoming DEVIL’S KNIGHT: ROGUE, which reunites the two actors who performed together in TEARS OF THE SUN. Jean-Louis recently wrapped a lead in the adaptation of the best selling Indian novel GOAT DAYS, directed by the award winning Blessy. He is also a lead in director Camille Delamarre’s upcoming feature ASSASSIN’S CLUB opposite Henry Golding, Roomi Nopace, Sam Neil and Daniela Melchior.

Jimmy first gained a global following for his starring role in the wildly popular NBC series HEROES and was recently a series regular on CLAWS opposite Niecy Nash. Other television roles include the hit CW series ARROW, and EXTANT opposite Oscar winner Halle Berry produced by Steven Spielberg. Feature film work also includes director David O. Russell’s JOY opposite Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro and the Russo Brothers THE

Gray Man

For his acclaimed turn in the title role of TOUSSAINT

L’OUVERTURE, Jimmy won the Best Actor Award at the Pan African Film Festival and he was also nominated Best Actor at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. Jimmy’s global footprint includes films and series shooting in such locations as France, Algeria, England, Jordan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Mexico, South Africa & The Dominican Republic, amongst many others, while making full use of his fluency in 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian & Creole.

Jimmy Jean-Louis co-founded the Los Angeles based production company Jet Media Production in 2008. His Producing credits include the documentary films HAITI: 16:53, JIMMY GOES TO NOLLYWOOD, the upcoming JIMMY GOES TO CANNES and the feature films EVERYTHING BUT A MAN directed by Negest Likke (Phat Girlz). He also produced the neo-noir psychological thriller RATTLESNAKES directed by Julius Amedume. Jimmy is an executive producer of the movies THE CURSED ONE, THE EMPTY BOX, DESRANCES, RISE and the upcoming GOAT DAYS.

Mr. Jean-Louis serves as the Haitian Ambassador at large. PR: THEO DUMONT

Alta Global Marketing, theo@altaglobalmedia.net

MGMT: STEVEN ADAMS

Alta Global Media, steven@altaglobalmedia.net