Simon Abkarian
Acting
Born: March 5, 1962 (age 64) · Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Highest Rated
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 .
Photos (3)
Movies (81)
Casino Royale
Alex Dimitrios
De Gaulle: Résistance
Charles de Gaulle
Zero Dark Thirty
Detainee on Monitor
De Gaulle: Liberté
Charles de Gaulle
Restless
Antoine Marelli
Someone, Somewhere
Mansour
Rendition
Said Abdel Aziz
Zarafa
Hassan (voice)
Overdrive
Jacomo Morier
The Truth About Charlie
Lieutenant Dessalines
The Audition
Philippe
The Swallows of Kabul
Atiq (voice)
Persepolis
Marjane's Father (voice)
Ararat
Arshile Gorky
Overdose
Daniel Prat
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Elisha
The Cut
Krikor
Rebels
Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
Colt 45
Commander Luc Denard
The Snake
Sam
Cyrano, My Love
Ange Fleury
Secrets of State
Al Barad
When the Cat's Away
Carlos
Yes
He
Trivial
Pierre
Scribe
Gerfaut
Playground
The Father
Journey from Greece
Kakourgos
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
Hovannès Alexandrian
The Sonata
Charles Vernais
Angélique
L'avocat François Desgrez
Almost Peaceful
Albert
Permis de construire
Müller
Chroniques D'un Indic
Lakhdar
In Your Dreams
Wilson
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
Mehdi Ben Barka
The Goldfish
Customer
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
Freddy
Army of Crime
Missak Manouchian
Force
Jimi Weiss
The Wedding Song
Raoul
The Way to Happiness
Saül Birnbaum
Lila Lili
Simon
The 4th Wall
Marwan
Khamsa
Khamsa's Father
Armenia
Sarkis Arabian
A Day at the Museum
Gilles Paulin
Les mauvais joueurs
Sahak
The Demon Stirs
Julien Cestac
The Legend of Princess Parva
Swami (voice)
The Marchers
Le père de Farid
To Take A Wife
Eliyahoo
J'ai tué ma femme
Le patron du café
Les Damnés de la Commune
Narrateur (voice)
Minor Revelations
2008
Turk's Head
Le veuf
La nuit miraculeuse
1989
Rage
Merlin
Mémoires de Palestine
Narrator (voice)
Off-Season
Anthony
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
Karan
The ben barka affair
le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
Cesari
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
Omar
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
Lelio
1915
Simon
The Silence of Rak
Customer
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
Simon
Cop Goes Missing
Tristan
A World of Ours
L'oncle de Noé (voice)
Black Notebooks
2021
Aram
Aram
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
Abraham Drucker
Le dernier jour du jeûne
2020
Chouf
Le libanais
New Délire
Gunter (voice)
Tempest in a Teapot
1997
Comme une ombre
Vincent
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
Narrator
Electre des bas-fonds
2022
The Seven Days
Eliyau
TV Shows (10)
Spooks
Dariush Bakhshi · 8 eps
Vanished
Gaspard Drax · 4 eps
Playground
The Father · 10 eps
House of Saddam
Qais · 1 eps
Kaboul Kitchen
Colonel Amanullah · 36 eps
Notre-Dame
Max · 6 eps
Wonderland
Tony · 6 eps
Pigalle, la nuit
Nadir Zainoun · 8 eps
Malaterra
Thomas Rotman · 8 eps
Tony's Revenge
Tony Roucas · 8 eps
