A French actor of Spanish-Moroccan descent, Jean Reno (pronounced Ruh-No) broke through into the American market with a heralded performance as an illiterate mob executioner who finds his soul saving the life of a teen-age girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by rogue DEA agents in "The Professional" (1994). The film also marked the English-language debut of screenwriter-director Luc Besson, with whom Reno has frequently collaborated.

The son of Andalusian parents, the actor was born in 1948 in Casablanca, Morocco, which was then under French territorial control, and remained there with his family until 1960 when they relocated to France. Reno began acting after high school, when he attended a French-government sponsored drama school. He made his professional stage debut in 1974 in a Parisian production of "Ecce Homo" and went on to spend the next couple of years honing his craft onstage. Reno made his screen debut in 1978, playing a small role in "L'Hypothese du tableau vole". The following year, he was cast in another small role in Costa-Gavras' "Clair de femme". He first worked for Besson in "Le Dernier combat" (1983), in the decidedly supporting role of a swordsman. A second outing with the director, "Subway" (1985), provided another brief part. But Besson and Reno formed a creative attachment and Besson provided a breakout role, the second male lead, in "The Big Blue" (1988). As Enzo Molinari, a macho champion free diver who fights off competition from an old friend and rival (Jean-Marc Barr), he received critical praise.

But it was their next teaming, "La Femme Nikita" (1990), that brought the bearded actor to American attention. Cast as the partner-in-crime to Annie Parillaud's title character, Reno portrayed a character that established the tone of his screen persona, the ability to be cool, calculating and amoral yet retaining the impression that a human being and not a devil incarnate lives behind those brown eyes. Also in 1990, Reno played a sympathetic role, that of a priest who moonlights as a wrestler in order to raise money for his church's projects in "L'Homme au masque d'or". He had a much applauded turn as Godefroy de Montmirail, a valiant nobleman from the Musketeer-days transported to the 20th Century where he understands little in "Les Visiteurs/The Visitors" (released in the US in 1996). The film set box office records in France and spawned a 1997 sequel.

Working with Besson again, Reno made his English-language debut with "The Professional.” He subsequently was a con-man thorn to Kevin Kline in Lawrence Kasdan's "French Kiss" (1995) and played Krieger, one of the operatives chosen by Tom Cruise for "Mission: Impossible" (1996). The actor became a known quantity with both Hollywood industry pros and appreciative audiences, who took to the actor when he appeared in features such as "Godzilla" (1998), "Ronin" (1998) and "Rollerball" (2002). He had a brief but potent uncredited turn in director Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda" (2004) as a sympathetic Belgian hotel corporation executive doing all he can to save the lives of his brave Rwandan manager (Don Cheadle) and the refugees he's sheltering during a bloody tribal conflict. After appearing in foreign-made features like “La Tigre e La Neve” (2005) and “L’empire des Loups” (2005), Reno played Ponton, a detective assigned to keep an eye on the ever-bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau in “The Pink Panther” (2006), the much-derided—but sadly profitable—remake of Peter Seller’s classic series of comic films. Reno was then set to be seen in one of the most controversial and anticipated movies to have come along in decades, “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), directed by Ron Howard from Dan Brown’s mega-blockbuster about a secret religious society that has spent the past 2000 years guarding a secret that could destroy the foundations of society if it were revealed.
Also Credited As:
Juan Moreno
Born:
on 07/30/1948 in Casablanca, Morocco
Job Titles:
Actor
Family
Daughter: Sandra Reno. born in 1978; mother is Genevieve
Daughter: Serena Reno. born in 1998; mother is Nathalie
Son: Mickael Reno. born in 1980; mother is Genevieve
Son: Tom Reno. born 1996; mother is Nathalie
Significant Others
Wife: Genevieve Reno. divorced
Wife: Nathalie Dyszkiewicz. divorced
Wife: Nathalie Reno.
Wife: Zofia Borucka. married in Baux-De-Provence, southern France on July 29, 2006
Companion: . divorced
Education
Cours Rene Simon, Paris, France, acting, 1970
Milestones
1960 Family moved to France from Morocco (date approximate)
1974 Made TV acting debut; Made professional stage debut in "Ecce Homo"
1978 Screen acting debut in "L'Hypothese du tableau vole"
1983 Made first film with director Luc Besson, "Le Dernier Combat"
1987 Had breakthrough role in Luc Besson's "The Big Blue"
1990 Co-starred in Besson's "La Femme Nikita"
1993 Starred in "The Visitors", which set French box office records
1994 Made US acting debut in "The Professional"; directed by Besson
1996 Had featured role in "Mission: Impossible"
1998 Co-starred in "Ronin", directed by John Frankenheimer
2000 Starred opposite Vincent Cassel in "The Crimson Rivers", playing a police detective on the trail of a serial killer
2001 Cast as a French detective on assignment in Tokyo in "Wasabi", scripted by Luc Besson
2001 Reprised role in the American remake of "The Visitors" titled "Just Visiting"
2003 Along with Juliet Binoche, co-starred in the romantic comedy "Jet Lag"
2006 Cast as Bezu Fache in Ron Howards' feature adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code"
2006 Co-starred with Steve Martin in a prequel to the 1964 Peter Sellers original film "The Pink Panther"
Joined the ensemble of Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret," as Ramon, a South American millionaire (lensed 2006)