|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Jean Reno (born July 30, 1948) is a French actor. Working in both French and English, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The DaVinci Code, Mission Impossible and Ronin, but also European productions such as the 2005 Italian film The Tiger and the Snow. A French actor of Spanish-Moroccan descent, Jean Reno (pronounced Ruh-No) broke through into the American market with a heralded performance as an illiterate mob executioner who finds his soul saving the life of a teen-age girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by rogue DEA agents in "The Professional" (1994). The film also marked the English-language debut of screenwriter-director Luc Besson, with whom Reno has frequently collaborated. Reno was born Juan Moreno y Herrera Jiménez (also written as Don Juan Moreno y Herrera Jimenez) in Casablanca, Morocco. His Spanish Andalusian parents were natives of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Jerez de la Frontera, and had moved to North Africa to escape the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. He has a younger sister, Marie-Thérese. Reno moved to France at the age of seventeen. His mother died when he was an adolescent. Reno is a former student of the Cours Simon. He was raised Catholic. The son of Andalusian parents, the actor was born in 1948 in Casablanca, Morocco, which was then under French territorial control, and remained there with his family until 1960 when they relocated to France. Reno began acting after high school, when he attended a French-government sponsored drama school. He made his professional stage debut in 1974 in a Parisian production of "Ecce Homo" and went on to spend the next couple of years honing his craft onstage. Reno made his screen debut in 1978, playing a small role in "L'Hypothese du tableau vole". The following year, he was cast in another small role in Costa-Gavras' "Clair de femme". He first worked for Besson in "Le Dernier combat" (1983), in the decidedly supporting role of a swordsman. A second outing with the director, "Subway" (1985), provided another brief part. But Besson and Reno formed a creative attachment and Besson provided a breakout role, the second male lead, in "The Big Blue" (1988). As Enzo Molinari, a macho champion free diver who fights off competition from an old friend and rival (Jean-Marc Barr), he received critical praise. Due to his tall, hulking frame (6' 2"), he mostly played villainous brutes early on in his career. Thanks to his skills as an actor, he has broken away from this stereotype and has played everything from romantic-comedy leads to action heroes. Reno's career began in French cinema, where he appeared in many of Luc Besson's films, including Besson's first short film, L'Avant dernier. The two have continued to work together throughout their careers, in films produced, written or directed by Besson, though the films in which he has done all three have proven to be the most popular, including Nikita (1990), and the English-language films The Big Blue (1988), and Léon (1994) (known as The Professional in the United States) featuring a young Natalie Portman. Additionally, he dubbed over the character of Mufasa in the French-language version of The Lion King, a role originally occupied by James Earl Jones. But it was their next teaming, "La Femme Nikita" (1990), that brought the bearded actor to American attention. Cast as the partner-in-crime to Annie Parillaud's title character, Reno portrayed a character that established the tone of his screen persona, the ability to be cool, calculating and amoral yet retaining the impression that a human being and not a devil incarnate lives behind those brown eyes. Also in 1990, Reno played a sympathetic role, that of a priest who moonlights as a wrestler in order to raise money for his church's projects in "L'Homme au masque d'or". He had a much applauded turn as Godefroy de Montmirail, a valiant nobleman from the Musketeer-days transported to the 20th Century where he understands little in "Les Visiteurs/The Visitors" (released in the US in 1996). The film set box office records in France and spawned a 1997 sequel. Reno has starred in such high-profile American movies as French Kiss (1995) with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, Mission: Impossible (1996) with Tom Cruise, Ronin (1998) with Robert De Niro, and Godzilla (1998), for which Reno turned down the role of Agent Smith in the The Matrix. He has not neglected to continue making French productions either - e.g., Les Visiteurs (1993) (which was later remade in English as Just Visiting in 2001) and The Crimson Rivers (2000). Working with Besson again, Reno made his English-language debut with "The Professional.” He subsequently was a con-man thorn to Kevin Kline in Lawrence Kasdan's "French Kiss" (1995) and played Krieger, one of the operatives chosen by Tom Cruise for "Mission: Impossible" (1996). The actor became a known quantity with both Hollywood industry pros and appreciative audiences, who took to the actor when he appeared in features such as "Godzilla" (1998), "Ronin" (1998) and "Rollerball" (2002). He had a brief but potent uncredited turn in director Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda" (2004) as a sympathetic Belgian hotel corporation executive doing all he can to save the lives of his brave Rwandan manager (Don Cheadle) and the refugees he's sheltering during a bloody tribal conflict. After appearing in foreign-made features like “La Tigre e La Neve” (2005) and “L’empire des Loups” (2005), Reno played Ponton, a detective assigned to keep an eye on the ever-bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau in “The Pink Panther” (2006), the much-derided but sadly profitable remake of Peter Seller’s classic series of comic films. Reno was then set to be seen in one of the most controversial and anticipated movies to have come along in decades, “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), directed by Ron Howard from Dan Brown’s mega-blockbuster about a secret religious society that has spent the past 2000 years guarding a secret that could destroy the foundations of society if it were revealed. In 2006, he had a prominent role in the remake of The Pink Panther, playing Gilbert Ponton, the partner of Inspector Clouseau opposite Steve Martin, and also portrayed Captain Bezu Fache in the Ron Howard film The Da Vinci Code. In other media, Reno was involved in the production of the third installment in the popular PlayStation 2 series Onimusha (Onimusha 3: Demon Siege), lending his likeness to the protagonist, Jacques Blanc, as well as providing the voice for the character's French dialogue. Reno has also appeared in United Parcel Service advertisements on television. On July 29, 2006 the actor married model and actress Zofia Borucka, 35, at the city hall of Baux-de-Provence in southern France. Then French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy was his best man. He was married twice before and has four children, two from each marriage. His first wife was Geneviève, with whom he has a daughter, Sandra (born in 1978), and a son, Mickael (born in 1980). His second wife is model Nathalie Dyszkiewicz, with whom he has a son, Tom (born 1996), and a daughter, Serena (born 1998). He maintains homes in Paris, Malaysia and in Los Angeles. Reno endorsed Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2007 French Presidential Elections. He is a huge fan of Elvis Presley and can actually imitate Elvis' voice. He used his impression in a scene of the film Godzilla when the script needed his character to pass as an American. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrities Guide 
| WhoABC
Home : Disclaimer
: Terms
: Privacy
Policy : Contact
Us : Links All original content Copyright Celebrities Guide, WhoABC.com © 2004 - 2008. All Rights Reserved |