Simon Abkarian

Born into a family of Armenian descent and raised in Lebanon, actor Simon Abkarian honed his dramatic skills in two vastly different locales: Los Angeles, CA -- where he studied with an Armenian theatrical ensemble -- and Paris, France, where he joined Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil (in 1985). Abkarian essayed a broad panorama of film roles during the mid- to late '90s, including parts in Time Has Come (1994), When the Cat's Away... (1996), and Lila Lili (1998), but he only broke through to full-fledged international acclaim by virtue of his richly praised stage work in Richard Kalinoski's play Une Bête sur la Lune (2001). Many of Abkarian's acting assignments during the 2000s were character roles that cast him as slightly shady, nefarious types, with underworld inclinations and careers -- such as his portrayal of a sociopathic criminal in Denis Thybaud's 2005 In Your Dreams, and his evocation of Sahak the mobster in Frederic Balekdjian's The Gamblers. In 2007, Abkarian achieved much international crossover success by voicing Ebi in the French version of the offbeat animated feature Persepolis.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide