The French actor Tchéky Karyo, recognized for his performances in films such as Nikita and in series like The Missingdied this Friday at the age of 72, a victim of cancer. “Valérie Keruzoré, his wife, and their children communicate with deep sorrow the death of Tchéky Karyo due to cancer,” the family reported in a statement broadcast by the public broadcaster Franceinfo.
Of Greek and Turkish descent, Karyo was born in Istanbul in 1953, although he grew up in France, the country where he developed most of his artistic career. His film debut came in 1982 with the film Libraof Bob Swaim, a thriller police for which he was nominated for the César for best new actor.
Throughout his career, he participated in numerous notable productions, including The Bear (1988), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and Nikita (1990), under the direction of Luc Besson, which consolidated his international fame. In the 1990s, the fame he had achieved in France allowed him to access an international career. Thus, he could be seen alongside Gérard Depardieu in 1492: Christopher Columbus (1992), then with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys (1995), and also as Russian defense minister in GoldenEyealso in 1995.
More recently, Tchéky Karyo had participated in the very dark Of war weary by Olivier Panchot, playing a Marseille gangster, and Air Resistance by Fred Grivois, in the role of an alcoholic and impotent father. In recent years, Karyo achieved great popularity for his role in the British series The Missing (2014-2016), where he played a French detective who connected the plots of the two seasons.