Lambert Wilson

This lanky leading man has emerged as one of France's more prominent exports of the 1980s. The son of actor Georges Wilson--the father directed his son in "La vouivure" (1986)--Lambert Wilson starred as the destructive Quentin in Andre Techine's psychodrama "Rendez-vous" and as the cynical photographer in Vera Belmont's nostalgic "Rouge Baiser" (both 1985). He also appeared as the adulterous Caspasian Speckler in Peter Greenaway's "The Belly of an Architect" (1987) and made a move toward US stardom as the Marquis de Lafayette in the Merchant-Ivory production "Jefferson in Paris" (1995). In John Duigan's "The Leading Man" (1997), Wilson had the major role of a playwright who hires an actor (Jon Bon Jovi) to seduce his wife (Anna Galiena).

While continuing to amass host of credits in European films and television productions, Wilson continued to gain ground in Hollywood, appearing in piopular fare like the lavish TV miniseries "Don Quixote" (2000), in which he played the Duke. But it was in 2003 that Wilson received his greatest exposure to mainstream audiences when he he brought an oily, unctuous charm to the silkily sinister and corrupt computer program the Merovingian in the blockbuster sequels "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" (both 2003). He essayed another oily villain, Sharon Stone's cosmetics mogul husband George Hedare, in the dismal comic book adaptation "Catwoman" (2004). In "Sahara" (2005), an adaptation of the Clive Cussler novel, Wilson played an evil French entrepreneur who uses the Mali army to cover up a toxic spill that is the source of a mysterious plague.