Shoes

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Gender

Male

Birthday

1962-03-05

Place of Birth

Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France

Simon Abkarian

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

Bonsoir bonsoir!

Bonsoir bonsoir!

Each day, Jean-Philippe Wauthier welcomes guests on the show in warm, friendly setting. His interviews focus on their newsworthy achievements but also, and most importantly, on their passions, interests and opinions.

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Spooks

Spooks

Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.

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De Gaulle: Liberté

De Gaulle: Liberté

Part two of a two-part biopic following French army officer Charles De Gaulle's life and political commitment between 1940 and 1945, and trace his development towards a political career.

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Casino Royale

Casino Royale

Le Chiffre, a banker to the world's terrorists, is scheduled to participate in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where he intends to use his winnings to establish his financial grip on the terrorist market. M sends Bond—on his maiden mission as a 00 Agent—to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning. With the help of Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter, Bond enters the most important poker game in his already dangerous career.

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De Gaulle: Résistance

De Gaulle: Résistance

June, 1940. France collapses and signs the armistice. In the midst of the chaos, one man refuses to give up. Alone against the odds, this unknown general flees to London to save what remains of freedom.

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Overdrive

Overdrive

Master car thieves square off against French gangsters in the South of France with money, women and lives all on the line.

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Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty

A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L. Team 6 in May, 2011.

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Beau geste

Beau geste

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Vanished

Vanished

When a romantic getaway to Paris takes a dark turn with the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Tom aboard a train to the south of France, Alice is plunged into a web of intrigue and danger, uncovering shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew.

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Cyrano, My Love

Cyrano, My Love

Paris, France, December 1897. The young playwright Edmond Rostand feels like a failure. Inspiration has abandoned him. Married and father of two children, desperate and penniless, he persuades the great actor Constant Coquelin to perform the main role in his new play. But there is a problem: Coquelin wants to premiere it at Christmas and Edmond has not written a single word.

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Rendition

Rendition

When an Egyptian terrorism suspect "disappears" on a flight from Africa to Washington DC, his American wife and a CIA analyst find themselves caught up in a struggle to secure his release from a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US.

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Kaboul Kitchen

Kaboul Kitchen

Kaboul Kitchen is a French comedy television series broadcast by Canal+. It was created by Marc Victor, Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes. The series is based on the true story of Radio France Internationale journalist Marc Victor, who ran a restaurant for French expatriates in Kabul until 2008. The first series premiered on February 15, 2012 on Canal+ and ended on March 5, 2012. It set a ratings record for comedy series in the primetime slot on Canal+. A second series, which will have 12 episodes, has been commissioned. The series depicts the life of French expatriate Jacky who runs the popular restaurant Kaboul Kitchen in Kabul, Afghanistan. His daughter Sophie, who he has not seen in 20 years, arrives to do humanitarian work, while he is interested only in making money. The series won two Golden FIPA Awards at the 2012 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels: one for Best TV Series and one for Best TV Screenplay. It was screened at MIPTV and named fourth on The Hollywood Reporter's list of "MIPTV A-List Projects" for the most promising series screened at the event.

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Malaterra

Malaterra

Malaterra: for the residents, this village is a haven of peace, a refuge. Until the death of a child. A once united community, where everyone thought they could trust each other, falls apart. Who killed little Nathan? And why?

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Notre-Dame

Notre-Dame

As the Paris firefighters try to stop the flames from spreading in the Cathedral, the show also follows characters being put through the wringer - they will have to fight each other, love each other, come across each other, hate each other, smile at or help each other - so that, in the end, they may have a chance to start all over again.

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House of Saddam

House of Saddam

The intimate world of Saddam Hussein and his closest inner circle is in this gripping four-part drama that charts the rise and fall of one of the most significant political figures in recent history.

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