Jean Reno

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Reno in 2008, photo by PrPhotos.com

Birth Name: Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez

Place of Birth: Casablanca, French Morocco (now Morocco)

Date of Birth: 30 July, 1948

Ethnicity: Spanish

Jean Reno is a French actor. His roles include Léon (The Professional), The Crimson Rivers, and Mission: Impossible, among many other films across both sides of the Atlantic.

He was born in Casablanca, French Morocco, now Morocco, to Spanish parents. His father was from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and his mother was from Jerez de la Frontera, both in Andalusia, Spain. They left to escape the Franco regime. Jean moved to France when he was seventeen.

Jean was raised Catholic.

He is married to Zofia Borucka, a model and actress, who is of Polish descent. He has two children with his former wife Geneviève, two children with his former wife, Polish model Nathalie Dyszkiewicz, and two children with Zofia.

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

26 Responses

  1. Marvin says:

    he is full spanish, but he loves being french! :/

  2. anen87 says:

    What?! He is not even considered pale in Spain, his skin tone is totally average. There is MANY spanish actors with the same skin tone or lighter. And his family hails from Andalusia, isn’t that where the darker people suppose to come from, the south Lol. Just comes to show the misconception people have about spaniards.

  3. Capricious says:

    Why is he ashamed of his Spanish side?

    He’s always playing French roles and trying hard to be French. That’s all he ever does in his movies. It’s so cheesy.

    You will always be Spanish dude…

    • andrew says:

      I dunno if he is ashamed of his Spanish background, but:

      1 He grew up in Morocco that was a French colony
      2 He moved to France becoming a French Citizen at 17
      3 He began his film career in France

      • Capricious says:

        Yes, I know that he’s a French citizen. But he’s always acting like a stereotypical French in his film. He never acknowledges his ethnicity. He’s typecast in his films at best. Always playing a Frenchman.

        He maybe a French citizen, but he’ll always be Spanish. He even looks Spanish.

        Initially, I thought he was a French Arab (French of North African descent).

        • andrew says:

          @capricious

          he speaks Spanish

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpBG_BQ1OVQ

          they even gave him the honorary citizenship of Cádiz

          http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/03/19/cultura/1142790788.html

        • JRose says:

          Omg that is because HE IS FRENCH. His ancestry is Spanish but his culture IS French. He grew ip in French Morocco and has lived in France his entire adult life as a French citizen. French culture is what he knows, he is not just “acting” that way for crying out loud. Of cpurse he is proud to be French it is home and country! You don’t have to have French ancestry to
          be a French citizen….that is absurd to think. France is like any other country, anyone from anywhere can become a citizen and ALL citizens of France or considered FRENCH. Also I agree with other that he absolutely looks French. In fact, it is hard to tell the difference between a ethnic French person and Ethnic Spaniard without hearing them speak. Borders have changed a lot over the years and many French people have Spanish DNA and vice versa. This site gives me a headache with all the ignorant comments.

          • andrew says:

            How you know “98% of the users are not European from Europe?”

          • andrew says:

            “Berids” is not a name for “native Spaniards”. Berid is just a taxonomic term for Cro-Magnoid types mostly found in Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia, according to some outdated anthropologic theories. Something that it did not even exist among scholars before XX century.

    • SpaniardIam says:

      Jean does not have a Spanish side. Jean is completely Spanish on all four sides. All their parents, their grandparents are Spanish. He does not have a gram of French blood. If he wants to hide that, that’s his problem.

  4. andrew says:

    more details:

    his father was from Sanlúcar de Barrameda and his mother was from Jerez de la Frontera, both in Andalusia, Spain.

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