Rise to Fame
Luc Besson wrote the role of Leon specifically for him, and he nearly didn't get it, as Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves had both expressed interest. The collaboration started a decade earlier: La Derniere Bataille (1983), Subway (1985), La Femme Nikita (1990). By Leon: The Professional, he'd done enough work with Besson that the director trusted him to play a hitman who lives with a 12-year-old without making it unwatchable. He played the character as emotionally stunted, almost childlike, which was the only way it could work. The Cesar nomination followed.
In the Spotlight
At 77, he's still picking up roles in projects worth watching. Tuner (2025), a thriller made alongside Dustin Hoffman, premiered at Telluride and landed 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. He published his first novel, Emma, in 2024. His Hollywood peak was Mission: Impossible, Ronin, and The Da Vinci Code, but he never became a leading man in the English-language market, more of a reliable face in the second tier. Keeping French productions going in between meant he never had the full mid-career fade that tends to hit European actors who go stateside.
Side Notes
Born Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jimenez in Casablanca to Spanish parents who fled Francoist Spain, he moved to France at 12 and adopted a new name. His mother died when he was 17. He speaks four languages (Spanish, French, English, Italian), which says something about how many times his life moved. The same year Leon came out, he was voicing Mufasa in the French dub of The Lion King. He returned for the 2019 remake. The hitman and the Disney patriarch, in the same calendar year.