Lionel Abelanski

Lionel Abelanski — Biography

Born on 22 October 1964, Lionel Abelanski grew up in Paris's 20th arrondissement and studied drama at the Cours Florent school; he has spent more than three decades building a character-actor career in French cinema. He is married to Nathalie Levy-Lang.

Working across a wide range of comedies and dramas from the mid-1990s onward, he reached a broad audience playing Shlomo, a Holocaust-era refugee, in Radu Mihaileanu's Train of Life. He also played Simonnet in Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre, and Jean-Paul Carrère, a figure from the orchestra's circle, in The Concert.

He went on to widen his filmography with Rue Mandar, Nicholas on Holiday and The First, the Last, and continued appearing on screen with a role in the 2023 release Bernadette.