Simon Abkarian

Simon Abkarian
Simon Abkarian
Born	March 5, 1962 (age 64); Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present
Known for	Beast on the Moon, Casino Royale, Persepolis, The Army of Crime

Simon Abkarian (Armenian: Սիմոն Աբգարյան, born 5 March 1962) is an actor of French-Armenian heritage.

Life and career

Abkarian was born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise to Armenian parents and spent his formative years in Lebanon. He later relocated to Los Angeles, where he became involved with an Armenian theatrical troupe led by Gerald Papazian. In 1985, he returned to France and settled in Paris. There, he pursued studies at the Acting International school before joining Ariane Mnouchkine's acclaimed Théâtre du Soleil. His stage work included performances in L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge by Hélène Cixous and the House of Atreus trilogy by Aeschylus.

In 1993, Abkarian departed from Théâtre du Soleil. His portrayal of an Armenian genocide survivor in Richard Kalinoski's Beast on the Moon (2001), directed by Irina Brook, earned him significant praise and the prestigious Molière Award for Best Actor.

His initial film appearances were facilitated by French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch, with notable roles in Chacun cherche son chat (1996) and Ni pour ni contre (bien au contraire) (2003). He also took the lead role in Sally Potter's Yes (2004).

Abkarian portrayed Mehdi Ben Barka in the thriller J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka and earned several acting accolades for his role in Ronit Elkabetz's Prendre Femme. His varied filmography includes the adventure film Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas, the comedy Le Démon de midi, and Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002). He played Albert in Michel Deville's Almost Peaceful (2004) and appeared in Denis Thybaud's Your Dreams (2005). In the thriller Les Mauvais Joueurs (2005), he portrayed Sahak. Among his prominent roles is that of Alex Dimitrios, an arms dealer villain in the James Bond movie Casino Royale.

He lent his voice to Ebi in the French version of the animated film Persepolis. Additionally, Abkarian embodied Armenian poet Missak Manouchian in Robert Guédiguian's The Army of Crime (2010).

On television, he played Iranian Special Consul Dariush Bakhshi in BBC's series Spooks (known as MI-5) and portrayed an Afghan army colonel involved in drug trafficking in Canal+'s series Kaboul Kitchen (2012).

Most recently, he has taken on the leading role in a two-part biographical film about Charles de Gaulle, with production spanning 2023 and 2024.

Filmography

Riens du tout (1992) – Greek dancer
Ana El Awan (1994) – Camille
When the Cat's Away (1996) – Carlos
Le dernier des pélicans (1996)
Le silence de Rak (1997) – Second customer
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici (1997) – Simon
Tempête dans un verre d'eau (1997)
Lila Lili (1999) – Simon
Ararat (2002) – Arshile Gorky
Almost Peaceful (2002) – Albert
The Truth About Charlie (2002) – Lieutenant Dessalines
Aram (2002) – Aram
La légende de Parva (2003) – The Swami (voice)
Not For, or Against (2003) – Freddy Karparian aka Lecarpe
To Take a Wife (2004) – Eliyahu
Yes (2004) – Lead male role
Gamblers (2005, directed by Frédéric Balekdjian) – Sahak
Dans tes rêves (2005) – Wilson
The Demon Stirs (2005) – Julien Cestac
Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas (2005) – Omar
J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka (2005) – General Oufkir
Petites révélations (2006)
Le Voyage en Arménie (2006) – Sarkis Arabian
Hier encore (2006) – Simon Tabet
The Serpent (2006) – Sam
Casino Royale (2006) – Alex Dimitrios
New délire (2007) – Gunter (voice)
Persepolis (2007) – Mr. Satrapi, Marjane’s father (voice)
Trivial (2007) – Pierre
Rendition (2007) – Said Abdel Aziz
Shiva (2008) – Eliau
Un monde à nous (2008) – Noé’s uncle (voice)
Khamsa(2008) – Father
Secret défense(2009) – Al Barad
Musée haut, musée bas(2008) – Gilles Paulin
Le Chant des mariées(2008) – Raoul
Rage(2009) – Merlin
The Army of Crime(2009) – Missak Manouchian
Suite parlée(2010) – 'The Mask'
Turk's Head(2010) – The widower
Des Force(2011) – Jimi Weiss
Kaboul Kitchen(2012–2017, TV Series) – Colonel Amanullah
Zarafa(2012) – Hassan (voice)
Zero Dark Thirty(2012) – Detainee on monitor screen
‘’Recon: A Filmmaker’s Quest’’(2012)
‘’Les invincibles’’(2013) – Nino Lorcy
‘’The Marchers’’(2013) – Father of Farid
‘’Angélique’’(2013) – Attorney François Desgrez
'Gett – The Trial of Viviane Amsallem'(2014) – Elisha Amsalem
'Colt 45'(2014) – Commander Luc Denard
'The Cut'(2014) – Krikor
'Pseudonym'(2014) – Monsieur
'1915'(2015) – Simon
'Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad'(2015) – Hovannès Alexandrian
'Chouf'(2016) – The Lebanese man
'La Mécanique de l'ombre'(2016) – Gerfaut
'Djam'(2017) – Kakourgos
'Overdrive'(2017) – Jacomo Morier
'The Sonata'(2018) – Charles Vernais
'Rebelles'(2019)
'The Swallows of Kabul'(2019)
'The Audition'(2019)
'Someone, Somewhere'(2019)
'Restless'(2022)

External links

Concise biography (in French)