Famous Non-Armenian Actors And Actresses Who Have Played Armenians

Al Pacino has played an Armenian in two films.

One is “You Don’t Know Jack” (2010) by director Barry Levinson. Here, Al Pacino played the role of a real and rather scandalous Armenian – Dr. Jack Kevorkian who was nicknamed “Doctor Death” by the media. For this role, Al Pacino won the Golden Globe Award.

Al Pacino played his second Armenian role in the movie “Author! Author!” (1982). He played the role of Ivan Travalian, a playwright who tries to solve his family troubles while struggling to get his new play produced.

French actor Jean Reno in the movie “Le Premier Cercle” (“The Dead Heist”, “The Dead List”, or “Ultimate Heist”, 2009) played the role of the head of the family of Armenian gangsters Milo Malakian who rules the criminal world in southern France.

Omar Sharif played Hagop in the film “Mayrig” (1991, directed by Henri Verneuil) and the role of the Armenian king Sohamos in the film “The Fall of the Roman Empire.”

Claudia Cardinale starred alongside Omar Sharif in “Mayrig”. The Italian actress perfectly embodied the image of the mother of the protagonist on the screen.

French comedian Louis de Funès in the film “The Sucker” (“Le Corniaud”) played the role of a wealthy industrialist and vile gangster Leopold Saroyan.

Kabir Bedi embodied Gabriel Bagradian, the protagonist of the film “40 Days of Musa Dag” (1982).

Gerard Depardieu played Lionel Kasdan in the movie “The Mark of the Angels – Miserere” (2013). It should be noted that unlike the novel “Miserere” by Jean-Christophe Grangé, the film doesn’t mention the Armenian roots of the protagonist.

Paz Vega played Nunik in the Italian drama film “The Lark Farm” (2007). “The Lark Farm” tells about the Avakian clan living in Turkey in the years of the Armenian Genocide.

Lubna Azabal played Méliné Sarkissian in “Aram” (2002).

Alan Arkin played Captain John Yossarian in the movie “Catch-22” (1970).