Jean Réno by Elodie Caroline

Jean Reno Biography

Home
Le Premier Cercle - Inside Ring
Armored
Couple's Retreat
Cash - Ca$h
Pink Panther 2
Margaret
Flyboys
The Da Vinci Code
Le Tigre et la Neige
Hotel Rwanda
L'Empire des loups
The birth of The Pink Panther
L'enquête Corse
Les anges de l'apocalypse
Tais toi!
Décalage horaire
Wasabi
Just visiting
Les rivières pourpres
Rollerball
Ronin
Le couloirs du temps
Godzilla
Un amour de Sorcière
Roseanna's Grave
Le Jaguar
Mission Impossible
Les soeurs soleil
Par-delà les nuages
French kiss
Les Truffes
Léon - The Professional
Les visiteurs
Flight from justice
La vis
L'Operation Corned Beef
Loulou graffiti
Nikita
L'homme au masque d'Or
Zone rouge
Le grand bleu
I love you
Strictement personnel
Subway
Le dernier combat
Notre histoire
Signes extériers de richesse
Les bidasses aux grandes manoeuvres
La passante du sans-sourci
On n'est pas des anges...elles non plus
Voulez-vous un bébé nobel
Clair de femme
L'Hypothèse du tableau volé
Theatre and TV
Jean Reno - News, Gossip & Interviews
Jean Reno - Adverts & Publicity
Jean Reno Biography

jean-reno-as-a-child.jpg
Jean reno when he was a child.

Jean Reno was actually born Juan Moreno in Casablanca Morocco 30th July 1948, to Andalusian parents that were originally from Cadiz in Spain. Jeans parents had fled the civil war of General Franco's regime. In Morocco, they were under the French protectorate as Morocco was then under French territorial control.

On the whole, Jean had a happy childhood in Morocco with his friends, and in 1955 he was to become the brother of a little sister called Marie-Thérèse. At 11 years old, it was found that Jean had Athsma, and the Doctor prescribes fresh mountain air for him. Jean's parents weren't very wealthy, but eventually he gets to live for two years on Montpellier, and this cures him of his Athsma. These two years are like a very long holiday for Jean. Whilst at Montpellier, Jean isn't going to school, instead he spends his days lounging in front of an old black and white TV set, but this opens his eyes to the world of entertainment and of the cinema.

Unfortunately for Jean though,with his athsma cured, he has to go back to Casablanca in Morocco. His parents had moved whilst Jean was away, so the new apartment they are in is very strange and bewildering for the young Jean. Jean's mother is always tired and his father is an authoritarian, his father doesn't like it that Jean hasn't made the grade in school whilst he was away at Montpellier, so he tries to make a draughtsman out of him. Jean is not impressed and reluctantly signs up to the Industrial school doing drawing, design and trigonometry.
All the while he is dreaming of a life more like what Marlon Brando would be leading. Jean has decided that his vocation in life is to be an actor, he wants the big screen and to get his name and face into the glossy magazines. He doesn't speak about his dream to anyone, especially not his dad, he knows his dad would never understand. Still, young Jean wants to make his mother happy, so he does try his hardest at the Industrial school, where his mother is always so tired, he just has to give it a go, it pays off and he gets a patent for his efforts, his mother is overjoyed at Jean for trying so hard. This sadly, is the last happiness that Jean gives his mother, it is found out that his mother's chronic tiredness is due to the last stages of bone cancer.
The family try for a chance of a hoiday to cure the cancer and send mother to Montpellier in 1965, but deep down, they know their efforts are in vain, his mum unfortunately passes away in France, far away from her loving children. Aged just 17, Jean has the first great pain of his adult life.

In 1967 the family decided to move to France when the six day war broke out in Morocco and shattered their happy life there. To become a French citizen, Jean had to join the armed forces for a while, but once they saw that he had attended the National drama school of Casablanca,he was put into the entertainment core whilst doing his patriotic bit in Germany.

Jean 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 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.

All pictures belong to their respective owners with gratitude. All text belongs to me.