Eriq Ebouaney
Encyclopedia
Eriq Ebouaney is a French film actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He is best known for his portrayal as the Congolese
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...

 in the 2000 film Lumumba
Lumumba (film)
Lumumba is a 2000 film directed by Raoul Peck centred around Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Raoul Peck's film is a coproduction of France, Belgium, Germany, and Haiti...

, as "Blacktie" in Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...

's Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (2002 film)
Femme Fatale is a 2002 French mystery film directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Rebecca Romijn as the femme fatale and Antonio Banderas...

and as "Ice" in the 2008 action film Transporter 3
Transporter 3
Transporter 3 is a 2008 French-English action film, and is the third installment in the Transporter film series, as well as the first not to be distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprised their roles, as Frank Martin and Tarconi,...

in which he starred opposite Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...

.

Early life

Ebouaney was born in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, the son of Cameroonian immigrants. As a child he never showed an interest in acting and was set on becoming a businessman. However, at the age of 30, he joined a theater company and then quit his job as a sales manager to become a professional actor.

Career

He made his film debut in 1996 in the Cédric Klapisch
Cédric Klapisch
Cédric Klapisch , is a French film director.Klapisch was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is from a Jewish family; his maternal grandparents were deported to Auschwitz. He studied cinema at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle as well as at the University of Paris VIII...

 directed film Chacun cherche son chat. He landed a leading role in the 2000 film Lumumba
Lumumba (film)
Lumumba is a 2000 film directed by Raoul Peck centred around Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Raoul Peck's film is a coproduction of France, Belgium, Germany, and Haiti...

 in which he portrayed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...

. The film was shot in Beira, Mozambique
Beira, Mozambique
Beira is the second largest city in Mozambique. It lies in the central region of the country in Sofala Province, where the Pungue River meets the Indian Ocean. Beira had a population of 412,588 in 1997, which grew to an estimated 546,000 in 2006...

.

In 2002, he starred in Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...

's Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (2002 film)
Femme Fatale is a 2002 French mystery film directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Rebecca Romijn as the femme fatale and Antonio Banderas...

alongside Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...

. In 2004, he played the character of Jean Claude in Mark Bamford
Mark Bamford
Mark Bamford was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but raised mostly in New York. He graduated from New York University in 1989 with a double major in French Literature and Linguistics and a minor in Anthropology...

's debut feature Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope (film)
The Cape of Good Hope is a 2004 South African comedy drama film written and produced by Suzanne Kay Bamford and her husband Mark Bamford under the direction of Mark Bamford...

. In 2005 he starred in the award winning Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

 picture, Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven (film)
Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic action film directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Kevin McKidd, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Jon Finch, Michael Sheen and Liam...

, in which he starred alongside Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...

, Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson
Liam John Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards.He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les...

, Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...

, David Thewlis
David Thewlis
David Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...

, Martin Hancock
Martin Hancock
Martin Hancock is an English actor well known for his role as Emily Bishop's nephew Geoffrey "Spider" Nugent in the British soap Coronation Street and Reg Lund in Holby City....

 and Nathalie Cox
Nathalie Cox
Nathalie Cox is a British actress and model. She is also known as Natalie Cox. She is best known for her role as Juno Eclipse in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel.-Career:...

.

In 2008, he played a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Australian film Disgrace
Disgrace (film)
Disgrace is an Australian film set in South Africa, adapted for the screen by Anna Maria Monticelli from the 1999 J. M. Coetzee novel, Disgrace...

featuring American actor John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...

, a small role in the Italian film Bianco e nero and later was cast as "Ice" in Transporter 3
Transporter 3
Transporter 3 is a 2008 French-English action film, and is the third installment in the Transporter film series, as well as the first not to be distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprised their roles, as Frank Martin and Tarconi,...

, featuring British actor Jason Statham
Jason Statham
Jason Statham born 12 September1967) is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels...

.

Notable people he has worked with include Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...

, Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...

, Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...

, Eric Valli
Eric Valli
Éric Valli is a French photographer and film director.Valli spent most of his career as a geographical photographer working for the National Geographic Magazine and The Sunday Times capturing more inaccessible locations in the world on camera...

, Cédric Klapisch
Cédric Klapisch
Cédric Klapisch , is a French film director.Klapisch was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. He is from a Jewish family; his maternal grandparents were deported to Auschwitz. He studied cinema at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle as well as at the University of Paris VIII...

 Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas , better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer...

, Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...

, Raoul Peck
Raoul Peck
Raoul Peck is an award-winning Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films, and a political activist. Briefly, in the 1990s, he was Haiti's Minister of Culture.-Biography:...

 and Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal
Yvan Attal is an Israeli-born French actor and director.-Background:Born in Tel-Aviv to French-Algerian Jewish parents, he grew up in the outskirts of Paris. His acting debut was in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié , which earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor...

.

Ebouaney's next release is expected to be Les Zones turquoises and the French zombie film La horde
La horde
La Horde or The Horde is a French horror film directed by Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher, it stars Jean-Pierre Martins, Eriq Ebouaney and Doudou Masta.-Plot:...

.

External links

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