JET’S MODEL ANNIVERSARY

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Djimon Hounsou Gets the VIP Treatment at This Mirage Hotspot
(Vegas Magazine – May 2007)
By Michael Shulman

Saturday, March 31st, marked the one-year anniversary of the youngest outlet of The Light Group’s interests in Las Vegas, Jet nightclub at the Mirage. On hand to ring in the birthday were a slew of beautiful people and Hollywood heavyweights, but no star shone brighter than 43-year-old Djimon Hounsou (pronounced Jie-mon Hahn-soo), whose celebrity has been on the rise ever since couturier Thierry Mugler plucked him from obscurity off the streets of Paris and made him a model. In 1997, he landed the plum role of Cinque alongside Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins in the slave-trade-era courtroom drama Amistad, for which he was received a Golden Globe nomination. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award, first for his role in 2002’s In America and more recently for last year’s Blood Diamond, which found him acting alongside his friend Leonardo DiCaprio.

Earlier this year, Calvin Klein Underwear announced that Hounsou would be the face (and body) of its latest product line, Calvin Klein Steel, starting this fall.

Taking a break from his busy schedule, Hounsou joined DiCaprio and Leo’s girlfriend, Israeli model Bar Refaeli, at the Jet anniversary party, along with Gerard Butler (300), Lukas Haas, Luke Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Kevin Connolly (Entourage), April Rawlings (Paradise City), 2007’s AVN Contract Star of the Year, Stormy Daniels, Gregg Bello, former Miss Nevada Katie Rees, and George Maloof. The group was set up in a special VIP section, and the Grey Goose flowed freely as DJ Ruckus spun the crowd into a veritable frenzy.

Earlier in the day, Hounsou – along with DiCaprio, Butler and Haas – lounged poolside at The Light Group’s new luxe-plus Bare Pool Lounge at the Mirage, after which they played in the second annual Jet Celebrity Poker Tournament in the Mirage Poker Room. Later, it was dinner at Stack at the Mirage before the group headed over to Jet.

It would appear as though this boy from Benin (Western Africa) has attained the American dream and has ridden it straight to Las Vegas. Yee-haw!