Simon Abkarian
Acting • Born 1962-03-05
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 .
Filmography
96 credits
Trivial
Movie • 2007
Pierre
Persepolis
Movie • 2007
Marjane's Father (voice)
The Snake
Movie • 2006
Sam
Army of Crime
Movie • 2009
Missak Manouchian
To Take A Wife
Movie • 2004
Eliyahoo
When the Cat's Away
Movie • 1996
Carlos
Not For, or Against (Quite the Contrary)
Movie • 2003
Freddy
Yes
Movie • 2005
He
The Seven Days
Movie • 2008
Eliyau
Permis de construire
Movie • 2021
Müller
Rage
Movie • 2009
Merlin
Overdose
Movie • 2022
Daniel Prat
Off-Season
Movie • 2021
Anthony
Casino Royale
Movie • 2006
Alex Dimitrios
Almost Peaceful
Movie • 2002
Albert
Turk's Head
Movie • 2010
Le veuf
Black Notebooks
Movie • 2021
Ararat
Movie • 2002
Arshile Gorky
Secrets of State
Movie • 2008
Al Barad
The Wedding Song
Movie • 2008
Raoul
Restless
Movie • 2022
Antoine Marelli
Armenia
Movie • 2006
Sarkis Arabian
Les mauvais joueurs
Movie • 2005
Sahak
Zarafa
Movie • 2012
Hassan (voice)
The Demon Stirs
Movie • 2005
Julien Cestac
Force
Movie • 2011
Jimi Weiss
The Way to Happiness
Movie • 2022
Saül Birnbaum
Aram
Movie • 2002
Aram
Les Amants naufragés
Movie • 2011
Milo Garavan
De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2)
Movie • 2026
Charles De Gaulle
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron (Film 1)
Movie • 2026
Charles De Gaulle
The Silence of Rak
Movie • 1997
Customer
Angélique
Movie • 2013
L'avocat François Desgrez
Lila Lili
Movie • 1999
Simon
Qu'est-ce qu'on va faire de toi?
Movie • 2012
Abraham Drucker
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Movie • 2014
Elisha
Ana El Awan
Movie • 1994
The 4th Wall
Movie • 2025
Marwan
Zaina: Rider of the Atlas
Movie • 2005
Omar
God Will Know His Own
Movie
The Cut
Movie • 2014
Krikor
Colt 45
Movie • 2014
Commander Luc Denard
I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed
Movie • 2005
Mehdi Ben Barka
Mémoires de Palestine
Movie • 2023
Narrator (voice)
1915
Movie • 2015
Simon
Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad
Movie • 2015
Hovannès Alexandrian
Comme une ombre
Movie • 2010
Vincent
S.A.C. : Des hommes dans l'ombre
Movie • 2005
Cesari
New Délire
Movie • 2007
Gunter (voice)
The Legend of Princess Parva
Movie • 2003
Swami (voice)
A World of Ours
Movie • 2008
L'oncle de Noé (voice)
Il était une fois... « Le procès de Viviane Amsalem »
Movie • 2016
Self
Chroniques d'un indic
Movie • 2025
Lakhdar
Minor Revelations
Movie • 2008
J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici
Movie • 1997
Simon
Overdrive
Movie • 2017
Jacomo Morier
J'ai tué ma femme
Movie • 2017
Le patron du café
Journey from Greece
Movie • 2017
Kakourgos
Chouf
Movie • 2016
Le libanais
In Your Dreams
Movie • 2005
Wilson
The Sonata
Movie • 2018
Charles Vernais
Scribe
Movie • 2016
Gerfaut
Cyrano, My Love
Movie • 2018
Ange Fleury
Rebels
Movie • 2019
Simon Bénéké, Sandra's father
The Audition
Movie • 2019
Philippe
Someone, Somewhere
Movie • 2019
Mansour
The Swallows of Kabul
Movie • 2019
Atiq (voice)
Ce soir-là et les jours d'après
Movie • 2019
Karan
The Truth About Charlie
Movie • 2002
Lieutenant Dessalines
Le Menteur : La Pièce !
Movie • 2008
Lelio
L'Affaire Ben Barka
Movie • 2008
le général Oufkir, ministre marocain de l'intérieur
Tempest in a Teapot
Movie • 1997
Rendition
Movie • 2007
Said Abdel Aziz
The Marchers
Movie • 2013
Le père de Farid
Le dernier jour du jeûne
Movie • 2020
Les Damnés de la Commune
Movie • 2021
Narrateur (voice)
The Goldfish
Movie • 1994
Customer
Tehlirian on Trial: Armenia's Avenger
Movie • 2015
Narrator
Khamsa
Movie • 2008
Khamsa's Father
A Day at the Museum
Movie • 2008
Gilles Paulin
Cop Goes Missing
Movie • 2022
Tristan
Electre des bas-fonds
Movie • 2022
Le lièvre
Movie
Playground
Movie
The Father
La nuit miraculeuse
Movie • 1989
Notre-Dame
TV • 2022
Max
Tony's Revenge
TV • 2011
Tony Roucas
Kaboul Kitchen
TV • 2012
Colonel Amanullah
Malaterra
TV • 2015
Thomas Rotman
Playground
TV • 2017
The Father
Spooks
TV • 2002
Dariush Bakhshi
Pigalle, la nuit
TV • 2009
Nadir Zainoun
Wonderland
TV • 2020
Tony
Vanished
TV • 2026
Gaspard Drax
Malin Fors
TV
House of Saddam
TV • 2008
Qais