Jean Reno - Career

Career

Due to his tall frame (1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)), he mostly played brutes early on in his career. He later appeared in romantic-comedies and action films. Reno's career began in French cinema, where he appeared in many of Luc Besson's films, including Besson's first film, L'Avant dernier. The two have continued to work together throughout their careers, in films produced, written or directed by Besson. Of the films they have done together, the ones that have achieved the most critical and commercial success include: Nikita (1990), the English-language films The Big Blue (1988), and Léon: The Professional. Additionally, Reno did the voice-over for Mufasa in the French-language version of The Lion King, a role originally performed 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). Reno turned down the role of Agent Smith in The Matrix. He has not neglected to work in French productions either—e.g., Les Visiteurs (1993) (which was later 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, he had a prominent role in the remake of The Pink Panther and its sequel, playing Gilbert Ponton, the partner of Inspector Clouseau opposite Steve Martin, and also portrayed Captain Bezu Fache in the Ron Howard film The Da Vinci Code. Among his most successful films are Les Visiteurs and L'Enquete corse.

In other media, Reno was involved in the production of the third installment in the popular PlayStation 2 series Onimusha (Onimusha 3: Demon Siege), lending his likeness to the protagonist Jacques Blanc as well as providing the voice for the character's French dialog. Reno has also appeared in American television commercials for UPS and portrayed Doraemon in a Toyota ad in Japan.