Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian (born 5 March 1962) is a French-Armenian actor. Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. He returned to France in 1985, settling in Paris. He took classes at the Acting International school, then he joined Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil. Abkarian left the Théâtre du Soleil in 1993 and played in 2001 "Beast on the Moon" by Richard Kalinoski, directed by Irina Brook, a play about the life of a survivor of the Genocide of the Armenians, a role which won him critical acclaims and the Molière of the best comedian. His first roles in cinema were proposed by French filmaker Cédric Klapisch, who asked him to play in several of his movies, notably in "Chacun cherche son chat" ("When the Cat is Away" (1996) and in "Ni pour, ni contre (bien au contraire)" en 2003. He was featured in Sally Potter's Yes (2004), in which he played the lead role. Abkarian then played Mehdi Ben Barka in the thriller "J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka" by Serge Le Péron, about the kidnapping and the murder of the leader of the Moroccan opposition. He then played in "Prendre Femme" by Ronit Elkabetz which won him several interpretation prizes. Playing different roles and in different genres, he was featured in the adventure "Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas" by Bourlem Guerdjou, in the comedy "Le Démon de midi" by Marie-Pascale Osterriet. He has also appeared in Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002), he was Albert in Almost Peaceful (2004) by French Director Michel Deville a film about Holocaust survivors, he was featured in "Your Dreams" (2005) by Denis Thybaud. He played the role of villain Alex Dimitrios in the James Bond film, Casino Royale. The character is a Government contractor and arms dealer working against Bond. He was featured as Sahak in the thriller "Les Mauvais Joueurs" ("The Gamblers") (2007) by Frédéric Balekdjian. He has also been the voice of Ebi in the French version of the animated feature "Persepolis". Abkarian played the role of the eminent Armenian poet Missak Manouchianin in "Army of Crime" (2010) by Robert Guédiguian, a French filmaker based in Marseilles, who is also of Armenian parentage. He has also played Dariush Bakhshi, the Iranian Special Consul, in the BBC drama Spooks MI-5. Abkarian is known for his intensity in acting and for his ecclectism in the roles he choses. Description above from the Wikipedia article Simon Abkarian, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia .
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Full Filmography
All Credits (92)
Pacer
as Unknown
Playground
as The Father
De Gaulle: Liberté
as Charles de Gaulle
Vanished
as Gaspard Drax
Chroniques d'un indic
as Lakhdar
The 4th Wall
as Marwan
Mémoires de Palestine
as Narrator (voice)
Overdose
as Daniel Prat
Notre-Dame
as Max
The Way to Happiness
as Saül Birnbaum
Electre des bas-fonds
as Unknown
Restless
as Antoine Marelli
Cop Goes Missing
as Tristan
Off-Season
as Anthony
Permis de construire
as Müller
Black Notebooks
as Unknown
Les Damnés de la Commune
as Narrateur (voice)
Le dernier jour du jeûne
as Unknown
Wonderland
as Tony
The Audition
as Philippe
Someone, Somewhere
as Mansour
The Swallows of Kabul
as Atiq (voice)
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
as Karan
Bonsoir bonsoir!
as Self
Rebels
as Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
The Sonata
as Charles Vernais
Cyrano, My Love
as Ange Fleury
Journey from Greece
as Kakourgos
Overdrive
as Jacomo Morier
Playground
as The Father
J'ai tué ma femme
as Le patron du café
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »
as Self
Scribe
as Gerfaut
Chouf
as Le libanais
Malaterra
as Thomas Rotman
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
as Hovannès Alexandrian
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
as Narrator
1915
as Simon
The Cut
as Krikor
Colt 45
as Commander Luc Denard
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
as Elisha
Angélique
as L'avocat François Desgrez
The Marchers
as Le père de Farid
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
as Abraham Drucker
Zero Dark Thirty
as Detainee on Monitor
Kaboul Kitchen
as Colonel Amanullah
Zarafa
as Hassan (voice)
Force
as Jimi Weiss
Tony's Revenge
as Tony Roucas
Comme une ombre
as Vincent
Turk's Head
as Le veuf
Pigalle, la nuit
as Nadir Zainoun
Rage
as Merlin
Army of Crime
as Missak Manouchian
Secrets of State
as Al Barad
The Wedding Song
as Raoul
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
as Lelio
A Day at the Museum
as Gilles Paulin
Khamsa
as Khamsa's Father
House of Saddam
as Qais
A World of Ours
as L'oncle de Noé (voice)
The Seven Days
as Eliyau
Minor Revelations
as Unknown
The ben barka affair
as le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
Rendition
as Said Abdel Aziz
New Délire
as Gunter (voice)
Persepolis
as Marjane's Father (voice)
Trivial
as Pierre
Casino Royale
as Alex Dimitrios
The Snake
as Sam
Armenia
as Sarkis Arabian
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
as Cesari
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
as Mehdi Ben Barka
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
as Omar
Yes
as He
The Demon Stirs
as Julien Cestac
Les mauvais joueurs
as Sahak
To Take A Wife
as Eliyahoo
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
as Freddy
The Legend of Princess Parva
as Swami (voice)
Almost Peaceful
as Albert
Aram
as Aram
The Truth About Charlie
as Lieutenant Dessalines
Ararat
as Arshile Gorky
Spooks
as Dariush Bakhshi
Lila Lili
as Simon
Tempest in a Teapot
as Unknown
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
as Simon
The Silence of Rak
as Customer
When the Cat's Away
as Carlos
The Goldfish
as Customer
La nuit miraculeuse
as Unknown