After a childhood spent in Lebanon, Simon Abkarian goes to Los Angeles and enters an Armenian theatre group. Back in Paris in 1985, he enters Ariane Mouchkine's Théatre du Soleil and appears many times on stage. In 2001, the play Une bête sur la lune by Richard Kalinoski is a success and wins him the Molière for Best Actor.
Thanks to Cédric Klapish, Simon Abkarian makes his debuts on screen with his two short films Ce qui me meut in 1989, Poisson Rouge in 1994 then with When The Cat's Away in 1996 and again in 2003 with Not for, or Against (Quite the Contrary).
He is successively a short-sighted criminal in J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici by Xavier Durringer in 1997, a habitual criminal in Dans tes rêves by Denis Thybaud in 2004 and a big local mafia chief in Gamblers by Frédéric Balekdjian the same year. Simon Abkarian is discovered by Michel Deville who offers him one of the major parts in Almost Peaceful, a drama set in a woman clothes workshop at the end of the WWII.
In 2004, Marie-Pascale Osterrieh directs him and Michèle Bernier in The Noonday Demon. He then stars in Zaïna, Rider of the Atlas by Bourlem Guerdjou.
Simon Abkarian's charisma leads him to interpret the famous Moroccan political opponent in J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka by Serge Le Péron.


Remarks
INTERNATIONAL CAREER :
2004 - Yes - Dir: S. Potter (UK/USA);
2002 - The Truth About Charlie - Dir: J. Demme (USA/Germany)

TV:
2001 - Une bête sur la lune - Dir: I. Brook;
1997 - La Petite maman - Dir: P. Martineau;
1989 - La Nuit miraculeuse - Dir: A. Mnouchkine

TV SERIES :
1998- Marc Eliot "L'Enlèvement de Carmen" - Dir: D. Amar;
1989 - L'Indiade - Dir: B. Sobel

THEATRE:
2001 - Une bête sur la lune by R. Kalinoski (Dir: I. Brook);
2000 - L'Ultime chant de Troie by Sénèque, Eschyle, P. Sevak (Dir: S. Abkarian);
1999 - Le Marchand de Venise by W. Shakespeare (Dir: C. Garcia-Fogiel);
1998 - Et Vian en avant la zique (Dir: L. Pelly);
1998 - Je suis un phénomène by A. Luria & P. Brook (Dir: P. Brook);
1998 - Une bête sur la lune by R. Kalinoski (Dir: I. Brook);
1997 - Macbeth by W. Shakespeare (Dir: P. Golub);
1996 - Beast on the Moon by R. Kalinoski (Dir: I. Brook);
1995 - Le Songe d'une nuit d'été by W. Shakespeare (Dir: P. Golub);
1994 - Ecoute ailleurs (Dir: J.-J. Lemetre)
1994 - L'Histoire du soldat by Ramus (Dir: A. Campo)
1994 - El Circo populare Poquelino by Molière (Dir: P. Golub)
1993 - Les Euménides by Eschyle (Dir: A. Mnouchkine)
1992 - Les Choréphores by Eschyle (Dir: A. Mnouchkine)
1991 - Agamemnon by Eschyle (Dir: A. Mnouchkine)
1990 - Les Atrides, Iphigénie à Aulis by Euripide (Dir: A. Mnouchkine)
1988-1989 - L'Indiade ou l'Inde de leur rêve by H. Cixous (Dir: A/ Mnouchkine)
1985-1987 - L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge by H. Cixous (Dir: A. Mnouchkine)
1984 - Titus Andronicus by W. Shakespeare (Dir: S. Abkarian)
1984 - Much Ado About Nothing by W. Shakespeare (Dir: G. Papazian)
1984 - The Dangerous Corner by F. Priesley (Dir: G. Papazian)


Activities : Actor, Voice, Voice-over
Represented by : VMA
Agent : Isabelle de la Patellière


Contact details
VMA
20, avenue Rapp
75007 Paris
France
Phone number : +33 1.43.17.37.00
Fax number : +33 1.45.55.77.80


Latest films
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The Army of Crime (2008), from Robert Guédiguian
Seven days (2008), from Ronit Elkabetz
La Bombe humaine (2007), from Laurent Touil-Tartour
New Délire (2007), from Éric Le Roch
The wedding song (2007), from Karin Albou
Secrets of state (2007), from Philippe Haïm
Khamsa (2007), from Karim Dridi
Musée haut musée bas (2007), from Jean-Michel Ribes
Spoken Sequence (2007), from Joël Brisse, Marie Vermillard [Le masque]