Med Hondo (born Mohamed Abid, May 4, 1935, Aïn Beni Mathar, Morocco - March 2, 2019, Paris, France) was a Mauritanian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. He emigrated to France in 1959 and began to work in film during the 1960s. He received critical acclaim for his 1967 directorial début Soleil O.
Hondo was born in 1935 in Ain Beni Mathar in Morocco. His mother was Mauritanian and his father Senegalese. In 1954 Hondo went to live in Rabat, Morocco, to train to become a chef at the International Hotel School there. He emigrated to France in 1959 and found work first in Marseilles and then in Paris, variously as a cook, farm labourer, waiter, dockworker and delivery man. He found that he, and other African immigrants, were unable to find jobs in their chosen professions, and in the menial jobs they could find, were paid less than the French. The difficulty of making a living during this time, as well as racism he experienced, eventually provided inspiration for his films, including Soleil O and Les 'bicots-Nègres' vos voisins.
Hondo began to take classes in acting and directing, and studied under French actress Françoise Rosay, acting in classic plays by Shakespeare, Molière and Jean Racine. He was unable to fully express himself with French repertoire theatre, and in 1966 formed his own theatre company with Guadeloupean actor Robert Liensol. Named Shango (from Shango, the Yoruba god of thunder), and later Griot-Shango, the company produced plays relating more to the experiences of Black people, including work by René Depestre, Aimé Césaire, Daniel Boukman and Guy Menga.
In the late 1960s, Hondo started taking small roles in television and films. At the same time, he began to learn the craft of film making by careful observation of the work of others, and began to get work behind the camera. He began his first film, Soleil O, in 1965. Made on a budget of $30,000, it was financed by Hondo's work dubbing American films into French. Soleil O played during International Critics' Week at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim. It received a Golden Leopard Award at the 1970 Locarno International Film Festival. In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival.
Some of Hondo's acting work has been as a voice actor, in films and television series such as Funky Cops and Asterix and the Vikings. He has worked on the dubbing of many English language films into French, voicing characters of Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover (on the rare occasions when he was not dubbed by actor Richard Darbois), Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. He has dubbed several of Eddie Murphy's films, including The Nutty Professor and the part of Donkey in 2001's Shrek.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 
|
Rafiki (Archivé) | Il Était une Fois un Studio |
| 2001-2017 | 
|
Aku | Samouraï Jack |
| 2016 | 
|
Boule | Le Monde de Dory |
| 2001 | 
|
l'Âne | Shrek |
| 2003 | 
|
Boule | Le Monde de Nemo |
| 2000 | 
|
Yar | Dinosaure |
| 1999 | 
|
Rafiki | Le Roi Lion 2: L'Honneur de la Tribu |
| 1999 | 
|
Boss Nass | Star Wars, Épisode I: La Menace Fantôme |
| 1994 | 
|
Rafiki | Le Roi lion |
| 1991-1992 | 
|
Burton "Buddy" Mitchell | James Bond Jr. |