Simon Abkarian

Simon Abkarian (Armenian: Սիմոն Աբգարյան) is a French-Armenian actor. Born on 5 March 1962 in Gonesse, Val d'Oise of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He later shifted to Los Angeles, where he joined an Armenian theater company managed by Gerald Papazian. In 1985, he returned to France, settling in Paris. Abkarian took acting classes at the Acting International school and joined Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil. There he participated in various plays including L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge and the House of Atreus four-play cycle by Aeschylus.

Abkarian left the Théâtre du Soleil in 1993. He garnered critical acclaim and the Molière Award for Best Actor for his role in Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski in 2001. French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch often cast Abkarian in various films like Chacun cherche son chat (When the Cat is Away, 1996) and Ni pour ni contre (bien au contraire) in 2003. He was featured in Sally Potter's Yes (2004), in a lead role. Other notable roles include Alex Dimitrios in James Bond film, Casino Royale and the Armenian poet Missak Manouchian in The Army of Crime (2010), among others.