Today the 34-year-old actor has scored a string of big Hollywood roles unmatched by a French actor since Maurice Chevalier’s “Gigi” days. Taghmaoui currently appears in Marc Forster’s much-anticipated “The Kite Runner” as Farid, the driver who guides Amir through Afghanistan in search of a child. In February he’ll costar alongside Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver in “Vantage Point,” playing a witness to a political assassination at a terrorism conference in Spain. He’ll also appear in the CIA thriller “Traitor,” with Don Cheadle, and play Saddam Hussein’s brother Barzan Ibrahim in “Between Two Rivers,” a BBC-HBO television mini-series about Saddam’s life. And he’ll soon begin filming with costar Sienna Miller the first of three megabudget “G.I. Joe” movies, based on the Marvel comic-book series.
Taghmaoui attributes his success to his decision to get out of France. “As a minority actor in France, you often wind up playing the buffoon,” he says. “So I went international.” He worked on his American-accented English by watching movies and listening to music. Eventually he landed small parts in choice Hollywood productions, including “Three Kings,” and a recurring role as a Middle East ambassador on the TV series “The West Wing.” In France, he made sure his characters were not caricatures. “I turned down a lot of work,” he says. Presenting him with an award at the 2005 Cairo Film Festival, Omar Sharif declared Taghmaoui his cinematic heir. “I cried,” Taghmaoui recalls.
Taghmaoui hasn’t forgotten his roots. With his first big check from “La Haine,” he bought his family a nice house. “My parents say I’m like a prophet, that my work is a mission from God,” he explains. And his pals in the ‘hood cheer him on, calling him “la cerise sur le ghetto—a play on the saying ’the cherry on the cake’,” he says with a laugh. “I got out. I made it.” It’s the kind of ending Hollywood loves.
