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