
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 .
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · The 4th Wall as Marwan
- 2022 · Overdose as Daniel Prat
- 2022 · Restless as Antoine Marelli
- 2022 · Cop Goes Missing as Tristan
- 2021 · Off-Season as Anthony
- 2021 · Black Notebooks as
- 2020 · Wonderland as Tony
- 2019 · Someone, Somewhere as Mansour
- 2019 · The Swallows of Kabul as Atiq (voice)
- 2019 · Rebels as Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
- 2018 · The Sonata as Charles Vernais
- 2018 · Cyrano, My Love as Ange Fleury
- 2017 · Overdrive as Jacomo Morier
- 2017 · Playground as The Father
- 2016 · Scribe as Gerfaut
- 2015 · Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad as Hovannès Alexandrian
- 2014 · The Cut as Krikor
- 2014 · Colt 45 as Commander Luc Denard
- 2014 · Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem as Elisha
- 2013 · Angelique as L'avocat François Desgrez
- 2013 · The Marchers as Le père de Farid
- 2012 · Kaboul Kitchen as Colonel Amanullah
- 2012 · Zarafa as Hassan (voice)
- 2011 · Force as Jimi Weiss
- 2009 · Rage as Merlin
- 2009 · Army of Crime as Missak Manouchian
- 2008 · Secrets of State as Al Barad
- 2008 · A Day at the Museum as Gilles Paulin
- 2008 · A World of Ours as L'oncle de Noé (voice)
- 2008 · The Seven Days as Eliyau
- 2008 · L'Affaire Ben Barka as le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
- 2007 · Rendition as Said Abdel Aziz
- 2007 · Persepolis as Marjane's Father (voice)
- 2006 · Casino Royale as Alex Dimitrios
- 2006 · The Snake as Sam
- 2003 · Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary) as Freddy
- 2002 · Almost Peaceful as Albert
- 2002 · The Truth About Charlie as Lieutenant Dessalines
- 2002 · Spooks as Dariush Bakhshi
- 1997 · The Silence of Rak as Customer
- Future · De Gaulle – Partie 2 as Charles De Gaulle
- Future · De Gaulle – Partie 1 : La France Libre as Charles De Gaulle
- Future · God Will Know His Own as
- Future · Le lièvre as
- 2025 · Chroniques d'un indic as Lakhdar
- 2023 · Mémoires de Palestine as Narrator (voice)
- 2022 · Notre-Dame as Max
- 2022 · The Way to Happiness as Saül Birnbaum
- 2022 · Electre des bas-fonds as
- 2021 · Permis de construire as Müller
- 2021 · Les Damnés de la Commune as Narrateur (voice)
- 2020 · Le dernier jour du jeûne as
- 2019 · The Audition as Philippe
- 2019 · Ce soir-là et les jours d'après as Karan
- 2017 · Journey from Greece as Kakourgos
- 2017 · J'ai tué ma femme as Le patron du café
- 2016 · Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem » as Self
- 2016 · Chouf as Le libanais
- 2015 · Malaterra as Thomas Rotman
- 2015 · Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger as Narrator
- 2015 · 1915 as Simon
- 2012 · Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi? as Abraham Drucker
- 2011 · Les Amants naufragés as Milo Garavan
- 2011 · Tony's Revenge as Tony Roucas
- 2010 · Comme une ombre as Vincent
- 2010 · Turk's Head as Le veuf
- 2009 · Pigalle, la nuit as Nadir Zainoun
- 2008 · The Wedding Song as Raoul
- 2008 · Le Menteur : La Pièce ! as Lelio
- 2008 · Khamsa as Khamsa's Father
- 2007 · New Délire as Gunter (voice)
- 2007 · Trivial as Pierre
- 2005 · S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre as Cesari
- 2005 · I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed as Mehdi Ben Barka
- 2005 · Zaina: Rider of the Atlas as Omar
- 2005 · Yes as He
- 2005 · In Your Dreams as Wilson
- Future · Vanished as
- 2008 · Minor Revelations as
- 2006 · Armenia as Sarkis Arabian
- 2005 · The Demon Stirs as Julien Cestac
- 2005 · Les mauvais joueurs as Sahak
- 2004 · To Take A Wife as Eliyahoo
- 2003 · The Legend of Princess Parva as Swami (voice)
- 2002 · Aram as Aram
- 2002 · Ararat as Arshile Gorky
- 1999 · Lila Lili as Simon
- 1997 · Tempest in a Teapot as
- 1997 · J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici as Simon
- 1996 · When the Cat's Away as Carlos
- 1994 · Ana El Awan as
- 1994 · Le Poisson rouge as Customer
- 1989 · La nuit miraculeuse as
- Future · Playground as The Father