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Tcheky Karyo, the versatile character actor who brought intensity to roles in Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita" and the BBC crime series "The Missing," died Friday from cancer. He was 72.
His wife and children confirmed his death in a statement to Agence France-Presse, saying he "succumbed to cancer this Friday, October 31."
Born Baruh Djaki Karyo in Istanbul, Türkiye, in 1953 to a Greek Jewish mother and Turkish Sephardic Jewish father, Karyo moved with his family to Paris as a child. His first name was transliterated from Djaki to Tcheky in French. He attended Lycée Arago before studying drama at the Cyrano Theatre and joining the Daniel Sorano Company. He later established himself at the National Theatre of Strasbourg, performing in classical and contemporary productions.
Karyo broke into French cinema in the 1980s, earning a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actor in 1982's "La Balance." He gained wider recognition playing a hunter in Jean-Jacques Annaud's 1988 wilderness drama "The Bear," then secured a defining role as the hard-nosed secret agent Bob in Besson's 1990 thriller "La Femme Nikita," where he mentored Anne Parillaud's assassin character.
His multilingual abilities — he spoke French, English and Spanish among other languages — opened doors to international productions. He appeared in Ridley Scott's "1492: Conquest of Paradise" and went on to work steadily across French and American cinema. His Hollywood credits included the villain Fouchet in Michael Bay's "Bad Boys" (1995) alongside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, a French officer in Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot" (2000), and a corrupt Paris detective opposite Jet Li in "Kiss of the Dragon" (2001).
In France, he appeared in films ranging from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 romantic comedy "Amelie" to Brazilian director Walter Salles' 1995 thriller "Foreign Land." His other notable roles included the French prophet in "Nostradamus" (1994), Jean de Dunois in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," and Captain Henri in Martin Sheen's "The Way" (2010).
Later in his career, Karyo received critical acclaim for portraying French detective Julien Baptiste in the BBC One and Starz series "The Missing," which premiered in 2014. The role proved popular enough to spawn a spinoff series, "Baptiste," which ran for two seasons from 2019 to 2021. Beyond acting, Karyo pursued music, releasing the album "Ce lien qui nous unit" ("This Link That Binds Us") in 2006 and "Credo" in 2013 on his 60th birthday.
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