Jean Reno

“I can walk into a room and create a good ambience. I was taught all about this back when I studied acting. One of the things they would teach you is how to send out positive signals when you enter a room. I am glad I learned this.”

“I have a strong accent; it limits the roles, of course it does. I guess if I had moved to America a long time ago maybe my accent would have got less.”

“Being proud and being nationalistic are, for me, completely different things.”

“'American Graffiti' stayed in my mind, but I don't think to this day I've done a film that captured that same level of melancholy. It was so well done. Talking about it has given me the idea I might try harder to make that melancholy film!”

“If it's a romantic holiday, the only thing I need is my wife. We love quiet and calm places where we can't be disturbed. Neither of us likes being in busy places; we would much rather stay in our hotel room and enjoy each other's company.”

“Croatia is an amazing place.”

“Actually, I only have a few friends in real life. And when I say friends, I'm referring to those people who I've known since the 1960s.”

“I don't think you lose culture because you act different cultures.”

“But I will say that most comedians are the saddest people I know. That is the biggest paradox to me.”

“There is no heaven on Earth. Not now anyway.”

“I'm a minimalist. I don't really need much to enjoy a good holiday - just my family and the bare essentials.”

“Sometimes I take the watch, or I take the shoes, but usually the souvenir is to take the life you had with those directors, or the crew - the camera person, the lighting person. When you finish a film it's like a little death. You had a family for a bit, and you finish the movie and you probably will never see each other again.”

“Everywhere in the world, you find good things.”

“I went to drama school in Paris and started doing theatre with a friend. Then I moved into movies and slowly but surely I got roles.”

“I'd like to do plays, maybe a one man show.”

“I first decided to become an actor at school. A teacher gave us a play to do and that had a major impact. At first, I wanted to work in the theatre, but there was something about the ambience of film, especially American films, that always attracted me.”

“Because I was born in Casablanca and my parents were from the south of Spain, I do not have a big central root in France. I feel French but in a few ways, not at all French.”

“I don't get the romances. I did try - a film called 'Roseanna's Grave' in the 1990s. I liked it. But the audience didn't come.”

“It is an actor's defect. I want everybody to like me, so I'll say what I think will please them.”

“When I am up in Paris then the restaurant which has remained my favourite for the past decade is Guy Savoy. The menu is huge, sophisticated and very creative but I keep to simple choices.”