Simon Abkarian
Born
March 5, 1962 (63 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Gonesse, Val d'Oise, France
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.
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The 4th Wall
Marwan
2025
Mémoires de Palestine
Narrator (voice)
2023
Overdose
Daniel Prat
2022
The Way to Happiness
Saül Birnbaum
2022
Restless
Antoine Marelli
2022
Off-Season
Anthony
2021
Permis de construire
Müller
2021
Black Notebooks
2021
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
Hovannès Alexandrian
2015
1915
Simon
2015
The Cut
Krikor
2014
Colt 45
Commander Luc Denard
2014
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Elisha
2014
Angelique
L'avocat François Desgrez
2013
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
Abraham Drucker
2012
Zarafa
Hassan (voice)
2012
Force
Jimi Weiss
2011
Les Amants naufragés
Milo Garavan
2011
Comme une ombre
Vincent
2010
Turk's Head
Le veuf
2010
Rage
Merlin
2009
Army of Crime
Missak Manouchian
2009
Secrets of State
Al Barad
2008
The Wedding Song
Raoul
2008
The Seven Days
Eliyau
2008
Persepolis
Marjane's Father (voice)
2007
Trivial
Pierre
2007
Casino Royale
Alex Dimitrios
2006
The Snake
Sam
2006
Armenia
Sarkis Arabian
2006
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
Mehdi Ben Barka
2005
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
Omar
2005
Yes
He
2005
The Demon Stirs
Julien Cestac
2005
Les mauvais joueurs
Sahak
2005
To Take A Wife
Eliyahoo
2004
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
Freddy
2003
Almost Peaceful
Albert
2002
Aram
Aram
2002
Ararat
Arshile Gorky
2002
Lila Lili
Simon
1999
When the Cat's Away
Carlos
1996
De Gaulle – Partie 1 : La France Libre
Charles De Gaulle
De Gaulle – Partie 2
Charles De Gaulle
The Silence of Rak
Customer
1997
Ana El Awan
1994
God Will Know His Own
Princes of Saint Trope
2025
Notre-Dame
Max · (6 episodes)
2022
Electre des bas-fonds
2022
Cop Goes Missing
Tristan
2022
The Damned of the Paris Commune
Narrateur (voice)
2021
Le dernier jour du jeûne
2020
Wonderland
Tony · (6 episodes)
2020
The Audition
Philippe
2019
Someone, Somewhere
Mansour
2019
The Swallows of Kabul
Atiq (voice)
2019
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
Karan
2019
Rebels
Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
2019
The Sonata
Charles Vernais
2018
Cyrano, My Love
Ange Fleury
2018
Journey from Greece
Kakourgos
2017
Overdrive
Jacomo Morier
2017
Playground
The Father · (10 episodes)
2017
J'ai tué ma femme
Le patron du café
2017
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »
Self
2016
Scribe
Gerfaut
2016
Chouf
Le libanais
2016
Malaterra
Thomas Rotman · (8 episodes)
2015
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
Narrator
2015
The Marchers
Le père de Farid
2013
Kaboul Kitchen
Colonel Amanullah · (36 episodes)
2012
Tony's Revenge
Tony Roucas · (8 episodes)
2011
Pigalle, la nuit
Nadir Zainoun · (8 episodes)
2009
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
Lelio
2008
A Day at the Museum
Gilles Paulin
2008
Khamsa
Khamsa's Father
2008
A World of Ours
L'oncle de Noé (voice)
2008
Minor Revelations
2008
L'Affaire Ben Barka
le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
2008
Rendition
Said Abdel Aziz
2007
New Délire
Gunter (voice)
2007
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
Cesari
2005
In Your Dreams
Wilson
2005
The Legend of Princess Parva
Swami (voice)
2003
Indic
Lakhdar
The Truth About Charlie
Lieutenant Dessalines
2002
Spooks
Dariush Bakhshi · (8 episodes)
2002
Tempest in a Teapot
1997
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
Simon
1997
Le Poisson rouge
Customer
1994
Le lièvre
Playground
The Father
Vanished
(1 episode)