Tchéky Karyo

This handsome Turkish-born actor is one of France's most popular stage and screen stars, but his vehicles do not always arrive on US shores. Karyo grew up in Paris, studied acting and by the late 1970s was appearing with the Daniel Sorano Company and the National Theatre of Strasbourg, in both modern and classical roles. He made his film debut in a supporting role in "The Return of Martin Guerre" (1982), and spent the next few years working his way up to leading roles in such films as "La Balance" (a 1982 detective film), "Le Marginal" (with Jean-Paul Belmondo, 1983), "L'Unique" (a 1985 sci-fi outing), "Le Moine et al Sorciere" (starring in this 1987 historical drama) and "The Bear" (as the dashing but easily-frightened young hunter in this 1988 outdoors epic).

In the Canadian children's film "Vincent and Me" (1990), Karyo played the artist Van Gogh, and co-starred with Peter Coyote in the actioner "Exposure" (1991). Karyo had his first international hit with his portrayal of Bob, the "secret agent man" who teaches a young punkette (Annie Parillaud) how to be a cool government killer in "La Femme Nikita" (1991). The multi-lingual actor's roles have taken him all over the globe: Berlin and Tunisia (for "Isabelle Eberhardt", 1991); Rome (for "La Villa del Venerdi", 1991); the Alps (for "L'Affut", 1992). He had a supporting role in the disappointing epic "1492: The Conquest of Paradise" (1992), and starred as the controversial prognosticator in a multi-national production of "Nostradamus" (1994).

In addition to his European work, Karyo has taken an apartment in Los Angeles and has been pursuing American films. In 1995 alone, he appeared as a sinister drug lord in the comedy "Bad Boys", as a hapless soldier in the Vietnam elephant film "Operation Dumbo Drop" and as a post-Communist Russian in the latest James Bond flick, "GoldenEye". On American TV, Karyo has been seen on the Showtime detective film "The Sketch Artist" (1992) and as a doctor in the medical drama "And the Band Played On" (HBO, 1993).