Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez, known as Jean Reno, is a French actor. Of Spanish descent, he has worked in French, English, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian, and appeared in films such as Crimson Rivers, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther, Ronin, Les visiteurs, The Big Blue, and Léon: The Professional...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth30 July 1948
CityCasablanca, Morocco
CountryFrance
We honor a group of young people who were essential in bringing down a reviled dictatorship.
Being proud and being nationalistic are, for me, completely different things.
Because I was born in Casablanca and my parents were from the south of Spain, I do not have a big central root in France. I feel French but in a few ways, not at all French.
The advantage of being eighty years old is that one has had many people to love.
I first decided to become an actor at school. A teacher gave us a play to do and that had a major impact. At first, I wanted to work in the theatre, but there was something about the ambience of film, especially American films, that always attracted me.
If it's a romantic holiday, the only thing I need is my wife. We love quiet and calm places where we can't be disturbed. Neither of us likes being in busy places; we would much rather stay in our hotel room and enjoy each other's company.
I don't think you lose culture because you act different cultures.
I was a banker in Morocco when I first saw 'American Graffiti.' It was before I was an actor, a melancholy time in my life, and this mood was reflected in the film.
I don't feel like I have to be nationalistic French because I'm afraid of losing whatever. No, no, no, no. And also I don't think we are the best.
When I am up in Paris then the restaurant which has remained my favourite for the past decade is Guy Savoy. The menu is huge, sophisticated and very creative but I keep to simple choices.
'American Graffiti' stayed in my mind, but I don't think to this day I've done a film that captured that same level of melancholy. It was so well done. Talking about it has given me the idea I might try harder to make that melancholy film!