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Jean Reno: France
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Jean Reno is regularly engaged in France as well as in the USA since the 90's. He obtained huge popularity with movies like "Les visiteurs - Die Besucher" (93), "French Kiss" (95), "Mission: Impossible" (96), "Le jaguar" (96), "Godzilla" (98), "Ronin" (98), "Les rivières pourpres - Die purpurnen Flüsse" (00), "Wasabi" (01) as well as the repeat performance of "The Pink Panther" (05) with Steve Martin.
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In 1993, Reno starred as Godefroy de Papincourt, a medieval knight who's magically transported from 12th-century France to the present in the hit comedy The Visitors, the first installment in a series. For Besson's 1994 action-thriller The Professional, Reno shone as a hit man who winds up protecting the life of a young girl -- played by Natalie Portman -- who's being hunted down by a corrupt DEA agent played by Gary Oldman.
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Jean Reno has been one of France's leading actors for nearly two decades. He's worked with some of his country's top directors and thespians in a number of films that have found success abroad, including several collaborations with director Luc Besson in international box-office smashes like The Final Combat (1983), The Big Blue (1988) and La femme Nikita (1990).
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An early stint in drama school found Reno exploring his acting abilities, but little did the aspiring talent know that his life would soon take a new and unexpected turn. Though Reno's life to that point had been somewhat idyllic, Morocco's increasing instability forced Reno's family to flee to France to start anew. Unfortunately, his new homeland was in the midst of turbulent civil unrest. In order to gain his citizenship, Reno had to sign up with the national service, and he was quickly recruited into the army. When his superiors noticed that he had previously been to drama school, they placed him in charge of arts and entertainment, and after a year of service, Reno set his sights on Paris. More drama school was soon to follow, and throughout the 1970s, Reno gained experience through stage and television work.
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Reno, who spoke only his native Spanish, for the first 11 years of his life, speaks fluent French, Italian, English and Japanese. He divides his time between the South of France, Corsica, New York and Los Angeles.
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Born Don Juan Moreno y Jederique Jimenez in Morocco to Spanish parents, Reno came to France as a teenager. After drama studies in Paris, he worked in French theater and television before landing his first film role in 1979.
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