Tchéky Karyo (; born 4 October 1953) is a French actor and musician of Turkish origin. Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary works, he began to work as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in numerous films by Hollywood and French directors, including Luc Besson. His performance in the 1982 film La Balance, saw him nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actor. His film credits include La Femme Nikita, Vincent and Me, Nostradamus, Crying Freeman, Bad Boys, GoldenEye, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The Patriot and Kiss of the Dragon. His television roles include Dr. Willy Rozenbaum in the HBO film And the Band Played On, Georges Méliès in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, and French detective Julien Baptiste in the BBC crime drama The Missing, and its spin-off series Baptiste (2019-2021). Early life He was named Baruch Djaki Karyo at birth in 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey; his mother was Greek Jewish and his father was from a Turkish Jewish family with ancestral roots in Spain (Sephardic Jewish). When he was young, his family moved to Paris, France, where he grew up. He attended the Parisian secondary school Lycée Arago (Paris). As a young man, Karyo studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre, and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles. The spelling of his name, Djaki, was changed to Tchéky in a form of French transliteration. Career Karyo joined the National Theatre of Strasbourg, where he starred in both contemporary and classical plays. He found success in French films beginning in the 1980s, first as a character actor. He later appeared in leading roles in several notable films, such as The Bear, in which he played one of the hunters, and director Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita, in which he played the heroine's spy mentor. He has appeared in many Hollywood movies, often portraying a French character, in the same fashion as Jean Reno. His movie credits include 1994's Nostradamus in which he plays the famous French prophet, and 1995's Bad Boys opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in which he plays a criminal named Fouchet. He also appeared alongside Jet Li in Kiss of the Dragon (2001) as a corrupt and violent Paris police detective. He has acted in prominent roles in major