Eriq Ebouaney was born 3 October 1967 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. 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.

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