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Simon Abkarian

Acting 64 years old Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France ★ 1.0
Born: March 5, 1962

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 .

External Links

🎬 IMDb

Known For

Casino Royale
Casino Royale Alex Dimitrios 2006
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron Charles de Gaulle 2026
Persepolis
Persepolis Marjane's Father (voice) 2007
Overdrive
Overdrive Jacomo Morier 2017
Rendition
Rendition Said Abdel Aziz 2007

Filmography

Acting Credits (96)

De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2)
De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2) Charles de Gaulle 2026
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron Charles de Gaulle 2026
Vanished
Vanished Gaspard Drax 2026
Chroniques d'un indic
Chroniques d'un indic Lakhdar 2025
The 4th Wall
The 4th Wall Marwan 2025
Mémoires de Palestine
Mémoires de Palestine Narrator (voice) 2023
Overdose
Overdose Daniel Prat 2022
Notre-Dame
Notre-Dame Max 2022
The Way to Happiness
The Way to Happiness Saül Birnbaum 2022
Electre des bas-fonds
Electre des bas-fonds 2022
Restless
Restless Antoine Marelli 2022
Cop Goes Missing
Cop Goes Missing Tristan 2022
Off-Season
Off-Season Anthony 2021
Permis de construire
Permis de construire Müller 2021
Black Notebooks
Black Notebooks 2021
Les Damnés de la Commune
Les Damnés de la Commune Narrateur (voice) 2021
Le dernier jour du jeûne
Le dernier jour du jeûne 2020
Wonderland
Wonderland Tony 2020
The Audition
The Audition Philippe 2019
Someone, Somewhere
Someone, Somewhere Mansour 2019
The Swallows of Kabul
The Swallows of Kabul Atiq (voice) 2019
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après Karan 2019
Rebels
Rebels Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father 2019
The Sonata
The Sonata Charles Vernais 2018
Cyrano, My Love
Cyrano, My Love Ange Fleury 2018
Journey from Greece
Journey from Greece Kakourgos 2017
Overdrive
Overdrive Jacomo Morier 2017
Playground
Playground The Father 2017
J'ai tué ma femme
J'ai tué ma femme Le patron du café 2017
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem » Self 2016
Scribe
Scribe Gerfaut 2016
Chouf
Chouf Le libanais 2016
Malaterra
Malaterra Thomas Rotman 2015
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad Hovannès Alexandrian 2015
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger Narrator 2015
1915
1915 Simon 2015
The Cut
The Cut Krikor 2014
Colt 45
Colt 45 Commander Luc Denard 2014
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem Elisha 2014
Angélique
Angélique L'avocat François Desgrez 2013
The Marchers
The Marchers Le père de Farid 2013
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi? Abraham Drucker 2012
Kaboul Kitchen
Kaboul Kitchen Colonel Amanullah 2012
Zarafa
Zarafa Hassan (voice) 2012
Force
Force Jimi Weiss 2011
Les Amants naufragés
Les Amants naufragés Milo Garavan 2011
Tony's Revenge
Tony's Revenge Tony Roucas 2011
Comme une ombre
Comme une ombre Vincent 2010
Turk's Head
Turk's Head Le veuf 2010
Pigalle, la nuit
Pigalle, la nuit Nadir Zainoun 2009
Rage
Rage Merlin 2009
Army of Crime
Army of Crime Missak Manouchian 2009
Secrets of State
Secrets of State Al Barad 2008
The Wedding Song
The Wedding Song Raoul 2008
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
Le Menteur : La Pièce ! Lelio 2008
A Day at the Museum
A Day at the Museum Gilles Paulin 2008
Khamsa
Khamsa Khamsa's Father 2008
House of Saddam
House of Saddam Qais 2008
A World of Ours
A World of Ours L'oncle de Noé (voice) 2008
The Seven Days
The Seven Days Eliyau 2008
Minor Revelations
Minor Revelations 2008
L'Affaire Ben Barka
L'Affaire Ben Barka le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur 2008
Rendition
Rendition Said Abdel Aziz 2007
New Délire
New Délire Gunter (voice) 2007
Persepolis
Persepolis Marjane's Father (voice) 2007
Trivial
Trivial Pierre 2007
Casino Royale
Casino Royale Alex Dimitrios 2006
The Snake
The Snake Sam 2006
Armenia
Armenia Sarkis Arabian 2006
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre Cesari 2005
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed Mehdi Ben Barka 2005
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas Omar 2005
Yes
Yes He 2005
The Demon Stirs
The Demon Stirs Julien Cestac 2005
Les mauvais joueurs
Les mauvais joueurs Sahak 2005
In Your Dreams
In Your Dreams Wilson 2005
To Take A Wife
To Take A Wife Eliyahoo 2004
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary) Freddy 2003
The Legend of Princess Parva
The Legend of Princess Parva Swami (voice) 2003
Almost Peaceful
Almost Peaceful Albert 2002
Aram
Aram Aram 2002
The Truth About Charlie
The Truth About Charlie Lieutenant Dessalines 2002
Ararat
Ararat Arshile Gorky 2002
Spooks
Spooks Dariush Bakhshi 2002
Lila Lili
Lila Lili Simon 1999
Tempest in a Teapot
Tempest in a Teapot 1997
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici Simon 1997
The Silence of Rak
The Silence of Rak Customer 1997
When the Cat's Away
When the Cat's Away Carlos 1996
Ana El Awan
Ana El Awan 1994
The Goldfish
The Goldfish Customer 1994
La nuit miraculeuse
La nuit miraculeuse 1989
God Will Know His Own
God Will Know His Own
Le lièvre
Le lièvre
Playground
Playground The Father
Malin Fors
Malin Fors

Writing Credits (2)

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