| Jean Reno | |
| Birth Name: | Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez |
| Birth Date: | 30 July 1948 |
| Birth Place: | Casablanca, French Morocco |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1977–present |
| Children: | 6 |
| Signature: | Jean Reno signature1.png |
Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez (born 30 July 1948), known as Jean Reno (pronounced as /fr/), is a French actor. He has worked in American, French, English, Japanese, Spanish and Italian movie productions; Reno appeared in films such as: Flushed Away (2006), Crimson Rivers (2000), Godzilla (1998), The Da Vinci Code (2006), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Pink Panther (2006), Ronin (1998), Les Visiteurs (1993), Wasabi (2001), The Big Blue (1988), Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014), La Femme Nikita (1990), and (1994).
Reno was born Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez, on 30 July 1948 in Casablanca, French Morocco.[1] His parents were Spanish, natives of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. They had moved to North Africa to find work and escape Francoist Spain.
He has a younger sister named María Teresa ("Maite"); the children were raised Catholic. Their father was a linotypist.[2] Their mother died when he was a teenager.[3] He learned Spanish from his parents, Arabic and French growing up in Morocco, and Italian from studying the language as an interest and acting in Italian films.[4]
At the age of 17, he moved to France, where he studied acting in the Cours Simon School of Drama.[5]
When he moved to France, he served in the French Army, which was mandatory after his family gained French citizenship.
After he started to get acting jobs in France, Juan adopted the French version of his name, Jean, and shortened his surname to Reno. Due to his large frame (1.88m (06.17feet)), Reno was called on to play "heavies" in his early career. He later appeared in romantic comedies and action films. He began his film career in France, appearing in many films by director Luc Besson, including his early Le Dernier Combat (1983). The two have continued to work together, collaborating in films produced, written, or directed by Besson. Of their joint work, those that have achieved the most critical and commercial success include: La Femme Nikita (1990), and the English-language films The Big Blue (1988) and (1994). Reno did the voice-over for Mufasa in the French-language version of The Lion King, a role originally performed in English by James Earl Jones. Reno has starred in such high-profile American films 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) with Matthew Broderick. Reno turned down the role of Agent Smith in The Matrix. He also acted in French productions: Les Visiteurs (1993) (which was remade in English as Just Visiting in 2001); The Crimson Rivers (2000), and Jet Lag (Décalage Horaire) by Danièle Thompson (2002), which was also a box-office success in France.
In 2006, Reno had a prominent role in The Pink Panther 2006 remake and its sequel The Pink Panther 2, playing Gilbert Ponton, opposite Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau. He portrayed Captain Bezu Fache in the Ron Howard film The Da Vinci Code. Among his most successful films are Les Visiteurs and L'Enquète corse.
In other media, Reno was involved in the production of the third installment in the popular Capcom series Onimusha (), lending his likeness to the protagonist Jacques Blanc, as well as providing the voice for the character's French dialogue. In advertising work, Reno has appeared in American television commercials for UPS and portrayed Doraemon in a series of Toyota ads in Japan, as part of the "ReBorn" campaign.[6] He also starred as Jo in the 2013 English-language TV series Jo.
Reno married his first wife, Geneviève, in 1977; they divorced in 1988. Reno married his second wife, Polish model Nathalie Dyszkiewicz, in 1995. They divorced in 2001. On 29 July 2006, Reno married for the third time, to a British model and actress of Polish descent, Zofia Borucka, at the Les Baux-de-Provence city hall.[7] The presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy served as his best man (Reno endorsed Sarkozy for the 2007 French presidential election).[8] [9] Reno has six children, two from each marriage.[10]
Reno maintains three homes. One in Paris, one in Malaysia, and one in Los Angeles.[11]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting | Tableaux Personnel | |
| 1979 | Womanlight | Traffic policeman | |
| 1980 | The Moroccan Stallion | ||
| 1982 | The Passerby | Angry Man | |
| 1983 | Signes extérieurs de richesse | Marc Letellier | |
| Le Dernier Combat | The Brute | ||
| 1985 | Le téléphone sonne toujours deux fois!! | Marraine's confidence man | |
| Subway | The Drummer | ||
| 1986 | I Love You | The dentist | |
| 1988 | The Big Blue | Nominated – César Award for Best Supporting Actor | |
| 1990 | La Femme Nikita | Victor, cleaner | |
| 1991 | L'Homme au masque d'or | Father Victorio Gaetano | |
| Loulou Graffiti | Pique la Lune | ||
| L'Opération Corned-Beef | Captain Philippe Boulier | ||
| 1992 | Porco Rosso | Porco Rosso (voice) | French dub |
| 1993 | Les Visiteurs | Godefroy de Papincourt, Comte de Montmirail | Nominated – César Award for Best Actor |
| La Vis | Monsieur K | ||
| Paranoïa | Short subject | ||
| Shadow (voice) | French dub | ||
| 1994 | The Lion King | Mufasa (voice) | |
| Leone "Léon" Montana | Nominated – César Award for Best Actor | ||
| 1995 | Les Truffes | Patrick | |
| French Kiss | Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon | ||
| Al di là delle nuvole | Carlo | ||
| 1996 | Mission: Impossible | Franz Krieger | |
| Le Jaguar | Jean Campana | ||
| 1997 | Roseanna's Grave | Marcello | |
| Un amour de sorcière | Molok | ||
| Les Sœurs Soleil | Spectator | ||
| 1998 | Les Visiteurs II: Les Couloirs du temps | Comte Godefroy de Montmirail, dit Godefroy | |
| Godzilla | Philippe Roaché | ||
| Ronin | Vincent | ||
| 1999 | The Book That Wrote Itself | Himself | |
| 2000 | Les Rivières pourpres | Pierre Niemans | Crimson Rivers Nominated – European Film Award: Jameson People's Choice Award - Best European Actor |
| 2001 | Just Visiting | Count Thibault of Malfete | |
| Vincenzo "Vinny" Saltorini (voice) | French dub | ||
| Wasabi | Hubert Fiorentini | ||
| 2002 | Décalage horaire | Felix | |
| Rollerball | Alexis Petrovich | ||
| 2003 | Tais-toi! | Ruby | |
| 2004 | Commissaire Niemans | ||
| Hotel Rwanda | Mr. Tillens | Uncredited | |
| The Corsican Files | Ange Leoni | ||
| 2005 | L'Empire des loups | Jean-Louis Schiffer | Empire of the Wolves |
| The Tiger and the Snow | Fuad | ||
| 2006 | The Pink Panther | Gilbert Ponton | |
| Flyboys | |||
| The Da Vinci Code | |||
| Flushed Away | Le Frog (voice) | Also French dub | |
| 2008 | Ca$h | Maxime - Dubreuil | |
| 2009 | The Pink Panther 2 | Gilbert Ponton | |
| Le Premier Cercle | Milo Malakian | ||
| Couples Retreat | Marcel | ||
| Armored | Quinn | ||
| 2010 | The Round Up | Dr. Sheinbaum | |
| The Philosopher | Baggio | ||
| L'immortel | Charly Matteï | 22 Bullets | |
| 2011 | Zookeeper | Bernie the Gorilla (voice) | French dub |
| You Don't Choose Your Family | Docteur Luix | ||
| Margaret | Ramon | ||
| 2012 | Alex Cross | Giles Mercier | |
| The Chef | Alexandre Lagarde | ||
| Le Jour des Corneilles | Le père Courge | ||
| 2013 | Days and Nights | Louis | |
| 2014 | My Summer in Provence | Paul | |
| Hector and the Search for Happiness | Dr. Diego Baresco | ||
| Poilonez | |||
| 2015 | The Squad | Serge Buren | |
| Brothers of the Wind | Danzer | ||
| 2016 | The Last Face | Dr. Mehmet Love | |
| Comte Godefroy de Montmirail | |||
| The Promise | |||
| 2017 | Mes trésors | Patrick | |
| The Girl in the Fog | Augusto Flores | ||
| The Adventurers | Pierre | ||
| 2019 | 4 Latas | Jean Pierre | German title: Renault 4 |
| Cold Blood | Henry | ||
| The Lion King | Mufasa (voice) | French dub | |
| Polina and the Mystery of a Film Studio | Screen Hologram | ||
| 2020 | Waiting for Anya | Henri | |
| Da 5 Bloods | Desroche | Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | |
| Ange Leonetti | Rogue City | Ange Leonetti | Netflix film |
| The Doorman | Victor Dubois | ||
| 2021 | Promises | Grandpa | |
| 2024 | Lift | Lars Jorgenson | |
| My Penguin Friend | Joao | ||
| Babygirl | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Flight from Justice | Charlie Bert | TV movie |
| 2013 | Jo | Joachim "Jo" St-Clair | 8 episodes |
| 2021 | Who Killed Sara? | Reinaldo Gómez de la Cortina | Netflix TV series |
| 2022 | A Private Affair | Héctor Hugo | 8 episodes |