Tchéky Karyo, a French actor who is best known for his roles in Bad Boys, Kiss of the Dragon and the James Bond movie GoldenEye, has passed away from cancer. He was 72 years old.
Videos by Suggest
According to the AFP, Karyo succumbed to his illness on Friday.
Born in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 4, 1953, Tchéky Karyo moved to Paris, France, when he was young. His acting career began at the National Theatre of Strasbourg, where he performed in both contemporary and classical plays. He began acting in film in the 1980s, appearing in The Bear and Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita.
In the 1990s, Karyo appeared in American films. He took on the role of criminal Fouchet in Bad Boys, starring opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. That same year, he played Russian Minister of Defense Dmitri Mishkin in GoldenEye. He then played a corrupt police detective in the 2001 film Kiss of the Dragon.
Other films in which Tchéky Karyo starred include Addicted to Love, The Patriot, Taking Lives, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, and Wing Commander. Along with film acting, Karyo starred in the British drama The Missing.
He was also a musician and songwriter. He released two albums, Ce lien qui nous unit and Credo, in 2006 and 2013.
Karyo is survived by his second wife, Valérie Keruzoré, and his two children, daughter Louise and son Liv.
Tchéky Karyo Once Explained How His Difficult Childhood Helped His The Missing Role
During a 2014 interview with The Sunday Times, Tchéky Karyo explained that his difficult childhood had helped him play his role as a detective in the BBC/Starz series The Missing.
“I am strong, but I was not afraid to go to dark places,” he explained. “With those wounds from the past, sometimes it’s easy to let yourself be taken by drugs and alcohol and to put your mind in lost spaces, but then I realized that it’s dangerous. I mean, I like to be in the light, although I know the shadows.”
He further spoke about how the role helped him relate to those who have despising fathers. “Today I have found some wisdom that enables me to give that attitude to my character,” Karyo pointed out, “but it is still boiling away in the back. What I went through as a child was a real earthquake, and it’s true that this was a treasure to work on as an actor. It helped me many times.”