# Eriq Ebouaney

Eriq Ebouaney (born 3 October 1967) is a French actor. He is best known for his portrayal as the Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in the 2000 film Lumumba, as "Blacktie" in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale and as "Ice" in the 2008 action film Transporter 3 in which he starred opposite Jason Statham.

## Early life

Ebouaney was born in Angers, France, the son of Cameroonian immigrants. As a child he didn't show an interest in acting and was set on becoming a businessman. However, at the age of 30, he joined a theatre company and left his job as a sales manager to become a professional actor.

## Career

He made his film debut in 1996 in the Cédric Klapisch directed film Chacun cherche son chat. He landed a leading role in the 2000 film Lumumba in which he portrayed Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. The film was shot in Beira, Mozambique.
In 2002, he starred in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale alongside Antonio Banderas. In 2004, he played the character of Jean Claude in Mark Bamford's debut feature Cape of Good Hope. In 2005 he starred in the award-winning Ridley Scott film, Kingdom of Heaven, in which he starred alongside Michael Sheen, Liam Neeson, Orlando Bloom, David Thewlis, Martin Hancock and Nathalie Cox.
In 2006, he starred in The Front Line and La piste.
In 2008, he played a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Australian film Disgrace featuring American actor John Malkovich, a small role in the Italian film Bianco e nero and later was cast as "Ice" in Transporter 3, featuring British actor Jason Statham.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1995 | Mon très cher frère | Ousmane | Raphaël Girardot | Short film |
| 1996 | When the Cat's Away | The cabinetmaker | Cédric Klapisch | |
| 1997 | XXL | Omar | Ariel Zeitoun | |
| 1997 | Seventh Heaven | | Benoît Jacquot | |
| 1997 | Direct | | Myriam Donasis | Short film |
| 1998 | Louise (Take 2) | | Siegfried | |
| 1998 | La mort du chinois | Bekate | Jean-Louis Benoît | |
| 1999 | The Children of the Marshland | | Jean Becker | |
| 2000 | Lumumba | Patrice Lumumba | Raoul Peck | Nominated - Black Reel Award for Outstanding Independent Film Actor |
| 2000 | Bàttu | | Cheick Oumar Sissoko | |
| 2001 | My Wife Is an Actress | Club bouncer | Yvan Attal | |
| 2001 | Les Rois mages | Babar | Didier Bourdon & Bernard Campan | |
| 2001 | Lettre à Abou | | Émilie Deleuze | Short film |
| 2001 | Villa mon rêve | Touré Dialo | Didier Grousset | Television film |
| 2001 | L'instit | Blaise | Antoine Lorenzi | Television; 1 episode |
| 2002 | Femme Fatale | Black Tie | Brian De Palma | |
| 2002 | A Map of the Heart | Strassenhändler | Dominik Graf | |
| 2003 | Le silence de la forêt | Gonaba | Bassek Ba Kobhio & Didier Ouenangare | |
| 2003 | Los Reyes Magos | Balthazar | Antonio Navarro | Voiceover |
| 2003 | Ciel d'asile | Patrice | Philippe Bérenger | Television film |
| 2003 | Les Cordier, juge et flic | Sissoko | Jean-Pierre Vergne | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2004 | Cape of Good Hope | Jean Claude | Mark Bamford | |
| 2004 | Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse | The cop | Olivier Dahan | |
| 2004 | Cause toujours ! | The disinfection employee | Jeanne Labrune | |
| 2004 | San Antonio | Jérémie Blanc | Frédéric Auburtin | |
| 2004 | Central nuit | St Jean | Franck Vestiel | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2005 | Kingdom of Heaven | Firuz | Ridley Scott | |
| 2005 | Paris-Dakar | The man | Caroline Jules | Short film |
| 2005 | Inspecteur Sori | Sori | Mamady Sidibé | Television film |
| 2006 | The Nativity Story | Balthazar | Catherine Hardwicke | |
| 2006 | La piste | Kadjiro | Éric Valli | |
| 2006 | The Front Line | Joe Yumba | David Gleeson | |
| 2006 | Cabaret Paradis | The commissioner | Shirley and Dino | |
| 2006 | Africa Paradis | M'Doula | Sylvestre Amoussou | |
| 2007 | Hitman | Bwana Ovie | Xavier Gens | |
| 2007 | Magic Paris | The man | Alice Winocour | Short film |
| 2007 | Reporters | Diallo | Suzanne Fenn & Ivan Strasburg | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2008 | 35 Shots of Rum | Blanchard | Claire Denis | |
| 2008 | Disgrace | Petrus | Steve Jacobs | |
| 2008 | Transporter 3 | Ice | Olivier Megaton | |
| 2008 | Black and White | Bertrand | Cristina Comencini | |
| 2008 | Ca$h | Letallec | Éric Besnard | |
| 2008 | Comme les autres | The social worker | Vincent Garenq | |
| 2008 | La dernière main | Marcellus | Thomas Le Hir & Djamal Mohamed | Short film |
| 2008 | Blood Money | Jonas Bergue | Martin Ngongo | Short film |
| 2008 | R.I.S, police scientifique | The Campus President | Christophe Barbier | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2009 | Thirst | Emmanuel Research Director | Park Chan-wook | |
| 2009 | La Horde | Adewale Markudi | Yannick Dahan & Benjamin Rocher | |
| 2009 | King Guillaume | The priest | Pierre-François Martin-Laval | |
| 2009 | Lignes de front | Mister the Beast | Jean-Christophe Klotz | |
| 2009 | Sous le fard | The vigil | Maud Ferrari | Short film |
| 2009 | Omar | Omar's father | Sébastien Gabriel | Short film |
| 2009 | Duty Calls | Client | Sébastien Cirade | Short film |
| 2009 | Julie Lescaut | Rémi Mertens | Alain Choquart & Thierry Petit | Television series; 3 episodes |
| 2010 | Thelma, Louise et Chantal | The real estate | Benoît Pétré [fr] | |
| 2010 | La ligne blanche | François | Olivier Torres | |
| 2010 | Le temps de la kermesse est terminé | Lieutenant Bado | Frédéric Chignac | |
| 2010 | Henry | Karanja | Alessandro Piva | |
| 2010 | 600 kilos d'or pur | Melchior | Éric Besnard (2) | |
| 2010 | Fais danser la poussière | Souleyman | Christian Faure | Television film |
| 2010 | Carlos | Hassan Al-Turabi | Olivier Assayas | Television series |
| 2011 | Black Gold | Hassan Dakhil | Jean-Jacques Annaud | |
| 2011 | Case départ | Isidore | Lionel Steketee, Fabrice Eboué, ... | |
| 2011 | Implosion | Wilhelm | Sören Voigt | Television film |
| 2012 | Stalingrad Lovers | Jupiter | Fleur Albert | |
| 2012 | Italian Movies | Zahur | Matteo Pellegrini | |
| 2012 | Métal Hurlant Chronicles | Kaskoff | Guillaume Lubrano | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2012 | Clash | Abel Diop | Pascal Lahmani | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2013 | Dakar Trottoirs | Master | Hubert Laba Ndao | |
| 2013 | Le collier du Makoko | | Henri-Joseph Koumba Bididi | |
| 2013 | Faim de vie | | Jessica-Salomé Grunwald | Short film |
| 2013 | Aya of Yop City | Hyacinthe | Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrerie | Voiceover |
| 2013 | Jo | Amadou | Sheree Folkson, Charlotte Sieling, ... | Television series; 5 episodes |
| 2014 | 3 Days to Kill | Jules | McG | |
| 2014 | Le Crocodile du Botswanga | Lieutenant Yaya | Lionel Steketee & Fabrice Eboué (2) | |
| 2014 | SMS | The big cop | Gabriel Julien-Laferrière | |
| 2014 | Paranoia Park | The guardian | Bruno Mercier | |
| 2014 | Ligne de protection | The judge | Virginie Kahn | Short film |
| 2014 | Death in Paradise | Theo Frazier | Robert Quinn | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2014 | Falco | Simon's father | Alexandre Laurent | Television series; 1 episode |
| 2015 | Boomerang | The psy | François Favrat | |
| 2015 | All Three of Us | Adama | Kheiron | |
| 2015 | Catherine ou les atomes d'une âme paumée | Doctor Daniel Koundé | Alix Véronèze | |
| 2015 | Maman(s) | Alioune | Maïmouna Doucouré | Short film |
| 2015 | Secteur IX B | The voice | Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc | Short film |
| 2015 | En Immersion | Kalach | Philippe Haïm | Television series |
| 2016 | Bastille Day | Baba | James Watkins | |
| 2016 | Le gang des Antillais | Politik | Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny | |
| 2016 | Zhong guo tui xiao yuan | Asaid | Tan Bing | |
| 2016 | 419 | Jay Jay | Eric Bartonio | |
| 2016 | Le Passé devant Nous | Michel | Nathalie Teirlinck | |
| 2016 | Ca va marcher | Eric | Guillaume Karoubi | Television series |
| 2017 | China Salesman | Sheik Asaid | Tan Bing | |
| 2018 | Belleville Cop | Ladji Toure | Rachid Bouchareb | |
| 2019 | Domino | Ezra Tarzi | Brian De Palma | |
| 2020 | Earth and Blood | Adama | Julien Leclercq | |
| 2020 | Rogue City | Stephan Jankovic | Olivier Marchal | |
| 2023–2024 | The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon | Fallou Boukar | | Television series; 9 episodes |
| 2025 | L2: Empuraan | Kabuga | Prithviraj Sukumaran | |