4 Oct 1953 - 31 Oct 2025 (72 years)

Tchéky Karyo was a French actor and musician. Most UK viewers will remember him as Julien Baptiste in the BBC series The Missing and the spin-off series Baptiste.
Beginning his career as an actor on stage in classical and contemporary plays, he later worked as a character actor in films in the 1980s. He has acted in numerous films by Hollywood and French directors, including Luc Besson. He was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actor for his performance in the 1982 film La Balance.

His film credits include La Femme Nikita, Vincent and Me, Nostradamus, Crying Freeman, Bad Boys, GoldenEye, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, The Patriot and Kiss of the Dragon. His television roles include Dr. Willy Rozenbaum in the HBO film And the Band Played On, Georges Méliès in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Baruh Djaki Karyo was born in 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey. His mother was Greek Jewish, and his father, a delivery man and builder, was from a Turkish Sephardic Jewish family; both families had Spanish roots. When he was young, his family moved to Paris, France. The spelling of his name, Djaki, was changed to Tchéky in a form of French transliteration. At age 13, his parents separated, and his mother ordered him to leave her home as well.

Tchéky Karyo was married to Isabelle Pasco, but they divorced. In 2002, he married actress Valérie Keruzoré [fr] (23 years his junior) with whom he had two children, daughter Louise and son Liv. They were still married at the time of his death. Karyo spoke multiple languages and was fluent in French, Spanish, English and Arabic.

He died at age 72 from cancer in Brittany.