Top 10 Most Famous People from Benin

Razak Omotoyossi photo by Désiré Sègbè Wikimedia

Top 10 Most Famous People from Benin

There are numerous ethnic groups spread out across the Benin Republic. By the time of the 2016 census, this small West African nation, which declared its independence from France in 1960, was home to approximately 10.87 million people.

Despite the fact that French is the country’s official language, many people still speak Fon and Yoruba. Roman Catholicism, Islam, Vodun, and Protestantism make up the majority of its religious population. Its borders with Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Niger total 114,763 square kilometers (44,310 sq mi).

Famous individuals from this tiny nation in West Africa are also flying the flag for their nation on a global scale. Here is a list of  Top 10 most famous people from Benin

1. Djimon Hounsou

Djimon Hounsou at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California.
photo by Gage Skidmore Wikimedia

Djimon    has been a Beninese-American actor and model.  He was born in 1964 to Bertine and Pierre Hounsou in Cotonou, Benin. In 2007, Hounsou formally became an American citizen. He chose to become a dual citizen of Benin and the United States instead of giving up his Beninese citizenship. Since he was hesitant to do so, therefore making him a Beninese-American. Hounsou has received two Academy Award nominations for his performances.

At the age of thirteen, he and his brother Edmond moved to Lyon, France. He started out in the music video industry. He made his cinematic debut in 1990’s Without You I’m Nothing, and he gained notoriety for his portrayal as Cinqué in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997).

He has received additional acclaim for his performances in the movies Gladiator (2000), In America (2003), and Blood Diamond (2006). Both of which earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also had a negative role in Furious 7. (2015).

He has received three Screen Actors Guild nominations in addition to a Golden Globe nomination. Djimon Hounsou also has a significant part in the French movie Forces spéciales (2011). He plays Korath the Pursuer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Captain Marvel (2019), and the sequel

2. Mathieu Gnanligo 

Gnanligo who  is a 400-meter sprint specialist from Benin, hasn’t backed down from his achievements. Winning the bronze medal at the 2007 All-African Games with a personal best time of 45.88 seconds during the 2008 African Championships in Addis Abeba. Along with the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He also participated in the 2007 World Championships.

3. Coffi Codjia

Coffi who was born in 1967 has been a Beninese football referee. He has been an international referee since 1994. Coffi Codjia was a referee at the FIFA world cup in 2002 and 2006, FiFA Confederations cup in 1999 and 2003 and  the African Cup of Nation 2000,2002, 2004,2006 2008  which  he was the referee for final.

H e was one of the 38 preselected referees for the 2010 FIFA World cup. Though he did not make the final lists of 30. Cojji returned to international officiating duty in 2010, refereeing a 2012 Africa cup of Nations qualifying game between Libra and Zimbabwe in Monrovia.

4.Angelique Kidjo

Angelique Kidjo in the collective women´s project Sing The Truth at Rudolstadt-Festival 2019. Photo by Schorle Wikimedia

Angelique  has been one of the most popular performers to appear on world music stages in the 1990s and 2000s. She was  a powerhouse singer and tireless performer. Her music portrays how those traditions evolved after Africans were captured and transported to the New World in addition to drawing on African traditions.

Thus, in addition to diverse African traditions, her songs also contain aspects of American soul, funk, rap, and jazz, Brazilian samba, Jamaican reggae, Cuban and Puerto Rican salsa, as well as Cuban and Puerto Rican music.

5.Olympe Bhely- Quenum

Olympe Bhely- Quenum who was  born in 1928 has been a Beninese writer, journalist and magazine editor. From 1938 to 1944, Bhêly-Quénum received his primary education in Benin. Thereafter, he traveled to Ghana, where he picked up English, his native Benin, as well as Nigeria, the nation of his maternal grandmother.

He moved to France in 1948 and began his secondary education at the College Littré in Avranches, Normandy (Manche). Before deciding to pursue journalism, he was a teacher and received training to be a diplomat. Up until 1964, he served as the magazine’s Director and subsequently Editor-in-Chief. La Vie Africaine is an African publication.  Later, he joined UNESCO in Paris.

6. Lionel Loueke

Lionel Loueke photo by Sheldon (Shelly) Wikimedia

 Loueke is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin in1973 . He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. Loueke was raised in a household of “poor intellectuals,” as he has put it in Benin, a country in West Africa, . Around the age of nine, he started playing percussion instruments. However, he was influenced by an older brother who played the guitar and picked up the instrument himself when he was seventeen.

7. Steve Michel Mounie 

Steve Michel Mounié  who was born 1994,is a Beninese professional footballer. He  plays as a striker for French Ligue 1 club Brest, whom he captains, and the Benin national team.

8.Isabelle Yacoubou

Isabelle Yacoubou photo by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin Wikimedia

Isabelle was born in 1986. She is a Beninese born French basketball player. Isabella has been playing for France women national basketball team. She has competed in the 2012 summer Olympics . And France won a silver medal. Isabelle  has been holding the Beninese record in the shot put at 15.15 meters since 2004.

9. Razak Omotoyossi

Razak is a Nigeria -born Beninese professional footballer who plays as a striker for JA Cotonou and the Benin National team . He has played in Nigeria, Egypt , Sweden, Suadi Arabia and France.

Omotoyossi signed for Helsingborgs IF in summer 2007. In the role of Henrik Larsson’s strike partner. He finished the 2007 season as joint top scorer having scored 14 goals in 23 games.

10. Stéphane Sessègnon

Stéphane Sessègnon photo by Football.ua Wikimedia

 Stephane is a Beninese professional footballer who plays for Sirens F.C. in the Maltese Premier League. He is a Benin international, having represented the nation at the 2008, 2010 and 2019 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations. Sessègnon plays a variety of positions as a forward, a winger and as a midfield offensive playmaker. He is Benin’s all-time top scorer and appearance maker with 24 international goals in 83 matches