Detailed Biography

Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in both French and English, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible and Ronin, but also in European productions such as the French films Les Visiteurs and Léon along with the 2005 Italian film The Tiger and the Snow.

Early life

Reno was born Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez in Casablanca, Morocco. His Andalusian parents were natives of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Jerez de la Frontera , and had moved to North Africa to find work and escape the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Reno moved to France at the age of seventeen. His mother died when he was an adolescent. He has a younger sister, María Teresa . Reno is a former student of the Cours Simon. He was raised Catholic.

Career

Due to his tall, hulking frame , 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 film, L'Avant dernier. The two have continued to work together throughout their careers, in films produced, written or directed by Besson. Of the films they have done together, the ones that have achieved the most critical and commercial success include: Nikita , the English-language films The Big Blue , and Léon which features a young Natalie Portman. Additionally, Reno did the voice-over for Mufasa in the French-language version of The Lion King, a role originally performed by James Earl Jones.

Reno has starred in such high-profile American films as French Kiss with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline, Mission: Impossible with Tom Cruise, Ronin with Robert De Niro, and Godzilla . Reno turned down the role of Agent Smith in the The Matrix. He has not neglected to work in French productions either—e.g., Les Visiteurs and The Crimson Rivers . In 2006, he had a prominent role in the remake of The Pink Panther and its sequel, 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. Among his most successful films are Les Visiteurs and L'Enquete corse.

In other media, Reno was involved in the production of the third installment in the popular PlayStation 2 series Onimusha , lending his likeness to the protagonist, Jacques Blanc, as well as providing the voice for the character's French dialog. Reno has also appeared in American television commercials for UPS.

Personal life

On July 29, 2006, the actor married model and actress Zofia Borucka, 35, at the city hall of Baux-de-Provence in southern France. The French President 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 , and a son, Mickael . His second wife is model Nathalie Dyszkiewicz, with whom he has a son, Tom , and a daughter, Serena . He maintains homes in Paris, Malaysia and in Los Angeles.

He is a huge fan of Elvis Presley and can actually imitate Elvis's voice. He used his "Thank you very much" impression in a scene of the film Godzilla when the script needed his character to pass as an American. Because of his versatile career in both his native French language films, and also in Hollywood, he is considered to be the 'French Stellan Skarsgård'.