A LOOK AT JEAN RENO

If you were to list iconic French actors, it is more than likely that Jean Reno would be on there somewhere.

Interesting however is that he was not actually born in France. In fact, Jean Reno was born in Morocco, to Spanish parents, only moving to France at the age of 17.

In 1979, he made his film debut in 'L'hyothese du Tableau Vole,' and in the next six years he made no less than 17 French films and tele-movies.

One of the many films was 'Le Dernier Combat,' by a relatively new writer / director named Luc Besson.

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Despite not being known outside his native France, this partnership with Besson would yield four more films - 'Subway,' 'La Femme Nikita,' 'The Professional' and the most recent, '22 Bullets' - that would bring him to Hollywood and cement him as a brilliant character actor.

Reno's career defining moment came in the form of 'The Professional,' where he assumed the role of Leon, a loner hit-man who befriends the young girl who lives next door after her parents are killed by a bent cop (played all too brilliantly by Gary Oldman). Not only was this film a breakthrough for Reno, but also the first film from Natalie Portman, who was only 12 at the time.

From there he went on to star alongside Hollywood elite, opposite Tom Cruise in the first 'Mission:Impossible' film, Robert DeNiro in the brilliant 'Ronin,' and Tom Hanks in 'The DaVinci Code.'

While he has made some amazing films, there have also been some stinkers, including the 'Pink Panther' remakes, and 'Godzilla,' which if you believe IMDB, he turned down the role of Agent Smith in 'The Matrix' to do.

His most recent effort is another collaboration with Besson, '22 Bullets,' which is being billed as "the return of the Professional". It's a brutal revenge tale about a retired mob boss who is shot 22 times by a rival, and lives up to the expectations built by the long-term partnership between Reno and Besson.

In short, Jean Reno has had an illustrious film career most can only dream of, yet has still managed to avoid the glitz-trap of Hollywood. For this, we doff our berets.

'22 Bullets' is out now on Blu-Ray and DVD

Watch the trailer for '22 Bullets'