French Celebrities
Living in the Soviet Ukraine meant that there was a very limited access to the Western movies. However, a lot of French films were allowed by the government censors. Thus, growing up I was introduced to the French cinema and French actors and actresses much sooner than to the Hollywood ones.
| Pierre Richard's American celebrity look-alike is William Fichtner ("Prison Break", "Invasion"). I used to watch a lot of Pierre Richard's movies as a child. As I grew up my memories of his films somewhat faded, until I started getting a feeling of deja-vu while watching some American movies from the 1980's. I finally realized that knowing how a movie would end didn't make me psychic, since I was watching Hollywood remakes of the French movies I've already seen. |  |
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Vin Diesel's appeal as an action hero is very similar to Belmondo's. Both actors are far from being handsome in a traditional way, but their manly behavior more than makes up for their lack of classic features. I used to love Belmondo as a kid. I remember watching "Le Professionnel" as if it were yesterday. I remember my emotions at the end of the movie as Jean-Paul Belmondo's character kept on walking to the sounds of Morricone. I think that was the precise moment I became a fan of action movies. |
I was hardly a teenager when the OC started, but for a while I joined in on all the hoopla. Shortly thereafter a few of my girl-friends simultaneously declared that Seth was the cutest character on the show. I thought that Ryan, played by Benjamin McKenzie should've been given that title, which was strange considering I've never liked blond men. Later I realized that I found McKenzie cute, because he reminded me of one of my favorite actors - Gerard Depardieu. |
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I took notice of Jean Reno for the first time when he played Leon in "The Professional" (not to be confused with Belmondo's "Le Professionnel" that also translates into English as "The Professional"). One day I saw a commercial for "Lost" and realized that Reno has an American twin in Michael Emerson. |
I discovered "Angelique" series by Sergeanne Golon, when I was about nine. I read them all, but didn't see a single Angelique movie until I was about eleven. The first movie that I saw was "Angelique and the King" and up until the credits rolled I was convinced that the role of Angelique was played by Gina Lollobrigida. Turned out it was Michele Mercier! |
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French actress Isabelle Adjani ("Camille Claudel", "Diabolique") resembles Italian model/actress Monica Bellucci ("The Passion of the Christ", "The Brothers Grimm"). |
In her younger years the famous French actress turned controversial political activist Bridgette Bardot resembled German model Claudia Schiffer. |
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French actress/screenwriter Julie Delpy ("2 Days in Paris", "Broken Flowers") looks like Woody Allen's ex Mia Ferrow ("Rosemary's Baby", "The Great Gatsby"). |
The original Highlander Christopher Lambert reminds me of Lorenzo Lamas, who like Lambert happened to play an immortal man in the series "The Immortal". |
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