
Simon Abkarian
Born: 1962-03-05
Place of Birth: Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Biography
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 .
Known For

Casino Royale

Colt 45

Overdose

Rendition

Overdrive

Rebels

Angélique

Someone, Somewhere

The Sonata

The Audition

Force

Cyrano, My Love

Ararat

The Marchers

Zarafa

Rage

Yes

Scribe

Off-Season

The Legend of Princess Parva

The Snake

Khamsa

Persepolis

Aram

New Délire

Journey from Greece

Army of Crime

Restless

Ce soir-là et les jours d'après

Cop Goes Missing

The Truth About Charlie

The 4th Wall

The Wedding Song

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

De Gaulle: Tilting Iron (Film 1)

Turk's Head

When the Cat's Away

Lila Lili

De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2)

The Seven Days

Chroniques d'un indic

Secrets of State

The Cut

The Swallows of Kabul

Le Poisson rouge

Permis de construire

Zaina: Rider of the Atlas

Trivial

Minor Revelations

Playground

1915

S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre

To Take A Wife

In Your Dreams

Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)

A Day at the Museum

The Way to Happiness

Black Notebooks

Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad

Armenia

Chouf

The Demon Stirs

Les mauvais joueurs

I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed

Comme une ombre

J'ai tué ma femme

Mémoires de Palestine

A World of Ours

La nuit miraculeuse

J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici

Tempest in a Teapot

Les Damnés de la Commune

L'Affaire Ben Barka

Almost Peaceful

The Silence of Rak

Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »

Le Menteur : La Pièce !

Le dernier jour du jeûne

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