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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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Born:
Mar 5, 1962 In Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Movie/TV Credits:
76
First Appeared:
In the movie De Gaulle – Partie 1 : La France Libre
Latest Project:
Movie The 4th Wall 2025-01-15
Known For
Poster of Chouf
Poster of Malaterra
Poster of Kaboul Kitchen
Poster of In Your Dreams
Filmography
Movie The 4th Wall Marwan 2025-01-15
Movie God Will Know His Own 2025
Movie De Gaulle – Partie 1 : La France Libre Charles De Gaulle 2025
Movie Mémoires de Palestine Narrator (voice) 2023-12-19
Movie Cop Goes Missing Tristan 2022-02-23
Series Notre-Dame Max 2022-10-19
Movie Overdose Daniel Prat 2022-11-04
Movie Restless Antoine Marelli 2022-02-25
Movie Les Damnés de la Commune Narrateur (voice) 2021-03-16
Movie Permis de construire Müller 2021-11-15
Movie Off-Season Anthony 2021-11-26
Series Wonderland Tony 2020-05-18
Movie Le dernier jour du jeûne 2020-12-17
Movie Rebels Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father 2019-01-17
Movie Someone, Somewhere Mansour 2019-09-11
Movie Ce soir-là et les jours d'après Karan 2019-06-26
Movie Cyrano, My Love Ange Fleury 2018-11-10
Movie The Sonata Charles Vernais 2018-11-15
Movie J'ai tué ma femme Le patron du café 2017-02-04
Movie Overdrive Jacomo Morier 2017-06-16
Series Playground The Father 2017-03-22
Movie Journey from Greece Kakourgos 2017-08-09
Movie Chouf Le libanais 2016-10-05
Movie Scribe Gerfaut 2016-10-19
Movie 1915 Simon 2015-04-17
Series Malaterra Thomas Rotman 2015-11-18
Movie Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad Hovannès Alexandrian 2015-11-11
Movie Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem Elisha 2014-06-25
Movie Colt 45 Commander Luc Denard 2014-08-06
Movie The Cut Krikor 2014-10-16
Movie Angelique L'avocat François Desgrez 2013-12-18
Movie The Marchers Le père de Farid 2013-11-27
Series Kaboul Kitchen Colonel Amanullah 2012-02-13
Movie Zarafa Hassan (voice) 2012-01-25
Movie Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi? Abraham Drucker 2012-12-19
Movie Les Amants naufragés Milo Garavan 2011-06-13
Movie Force Jimi Weiss 2011-10-26
Series Tony's Revenge Tony Roucas 2011-03-16
Movie Turk's Head Le veuf 2010-03-31
Series Pigalle, la nuit Nadir Zainoun 2009-11-23
Movie Rage Merlin 2009-09-24
Movie Army of Crime Missak Manouchian 2009-09-16
Movie Minor Revelations 2008-04-09
Movie Secrets of State Al Barad 2008-12-10
Movie The Seven Days Eliyau 2008-05-05
Movie A World of Ours L'oncle de Noé (voice) 2008-07-16
Movie The Wedding Song Raoul 2008-11-24
Movie Le Menteur : La Pièce ! Lelio 2008-11-20
Movie A Day at the Museum Gilles Paulin 2008-11-19
Movie Khamsa Khamsa's Father 2008-10-08
Movie New Délire Gunter (voice) 2007-01-20
Movie Persepolis Marjane's Father (voice) 2007-06-27
Movie Rendition Said Abdel Aziz 2007-09-07
Movie Trivial Pierre 2007-05-23
Movie The Snake Sam 2006-10-21
Movie Armenia Sarkis Arabian 2006-06-28
Movie Casino Royale Alex Dimitrios 2006-11-14
Movie In Your Dreams Wilson 2005-04-13
Movie Les mauvais joueurs Sahak 2005-04-20
Movie Zaina: Rider of the Atlas Omar 2005-10-26
Movie The Demon Stirs Julien Cestac 2005-06-22
Movie S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre Cesari 2005-11-29
Movie Yes He 2005-08-05
Movie I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed Mehdi Ben Barka 2005-11-02
Movie To Take A Wife Eliyahoo 2004-06-01
Movie Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary) Freddy 2003-03-05
Movie The Legend of Princess Parva Swami (voice) 2003-02-12
Movie Ararat Arshile Gorky 2002-05-20
Movie The Truth About Charlie Lieutenant Dessalines 2002-10-25
Movie Aram Aram 2002-11-27
Movie Almost Peaceful Albert 2002-12-18
Movie Lila Lili Simon 1999-01-06
Movie J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici Simon 1997-10-01
Movie Tempest in a Teapot 1997-12-10
Movie When the Cat's Away Carlos 1996-04-03
Movie Ana El Awan 1994-01-02