Isaach de Bankolé
With chiseled, sphinx-like features, Isaach DeBankolé is a striking presence in the independent film world. Born on the Ivory Coast of Africa, he moved to Paris to study engineering. The acting bug bit him there and, at the age of 19, he landed his first starring role in the cross-cultural Thomas Gilou comedy "Black Mic Mac" (1986). Two years later, he was working with internationally acclaimed director Claire Denis on her celebrated "Chocolat," an interracial romantic drama set amidst the prejudices of colonial French Cameroon. In '91 he began a career-long collaboration with the godfather of modern indies, director Jim Jarmusch. First playing a put-upon cabbie in the "Paris" segment of the slice-of-life anthology "Night on Earth," he later accumulated similar roles in the urban fable "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" and the "No Problem" segment of 2003's "Coffee and Cigarettes," a filmic collection of conversational vignettes. These smaller roles culminated in a lead part in Jarmusch's moody crime piece "The Limits of Control" ('09). He has also worked with famed director Nicolas Roeg on a television version of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," with Marc Forster in the mind-bending "Stay," and with Julian Schnabel in the extraordinary biopic "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." DeBankolé is known to a far wider audience as Ule Matobo, the president of the fictional country Sangala on season seven of the explosively popular action series "24."
Photos
Isaach de Bankolé
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
93% | No Score Yet | The Brutalist | Gordon (Character) | - | 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Snakeeater | Frank (Character) | - | 2024 |
31% |
|
The People We Hate at the Wedding | Unknown (Character) | - | 2022 |
65% |
|
French Exit | Julius (Character) | $740.4K | 2020 |
34% |
|
Shaft | Pierro "Gordito" Carrera (Character) | $21.4M | 2019 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Black Is Beltza | Wilson Clever (Voice) | - | 2017 |
40% |
|
A Violent Man | Pete (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kiss Me! | Bernard (Character) | - | 2017 |
No Score Yet |
|
Double Play | Ernesto (Character) | - | 2017 |
18% |
|
The Last Witch Hunter | Max Schlesinger (Character) | $27.4M | 2015 |
No Score Yet |
|
Where the Road Runs Out |
George (Character), Executive Producer |
- | 2014 |
No Score Yet |
|
Mirage |
Francis (Character), Executive Producer |
- | 2014 |
89% |
|
Calvary | Simon (Character) | $3.6M | 2014 |
No Score Yet |
|
Run | Assa (Character) | - | 2014 |
91% |
|
Mother of George |
Ayodele Balogen (Character), Executive Producer |
$142.5K | 2013 |
No Score Yet |
|
I Am Slave | Bah (Character) | - | 2010 |
71% |
|
Oka! Amerikee | Bassoun (Character) | $18.4K | 2010 |
86% |
|
White Material | The Boxer (Character) | $302.8K | 2009 |
43% |
|
The Limits of Control | Lone Man (Character) | $425.0K | 2009 |
80% |
|
24: Redemption | President Ule Matobo (Character) | - | 2008 |
33% |
|
The Guitar | Roscoe Wasz (Character) | - | 2008 |
94% |
|
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Laurent (Character) | $6.0M | 2007 |
57% |
|
Battle in Seattle | Abassi (Character) | $223.5K | 2007 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Fifth Patient | Mugambe (Character) | - | 2007 |
No Score Yet |
|
5 Up 2 Down | Hunter (Character) | - | 2006 |
94% |
|
Casino Royale | Obanno (Character) | $167.0M | 2006 |
47% |
|
Miami Vice | Neptune (Character) | $63.4M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 5up 2down | Unknown (Character) | - | 2006 |
No Score Yet |
|
Before It Had a Name | Waiter (Character) | - | 2005 |
50% |
|
Manderlay | Timothy (Character) | $74.2K | 2005 |
37% |
|
The Skeleton Key | Creole Gas Station Owner (Character) | $47.8M | 2005 |
38% |
|
From Other Worlds | Abraham (Character) | - | 2004 |
63% |
|
Coffee and Cigarettes | Isaach (Character) | $2.0M | 2003 |
No Score Yet |
|
3 a.m. | Angus (Character) | - | 2001 |
100% |
|
Otomo | Otomo (Character) | - | 2000 |
84% |
|
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | Raymond (Character) | $3.3M | 1999 |
No Score Yet |
|
Cherry | Menu Man (Character) | - | 1999 |
80% |
|
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries | Mamadou (Character) | $1.8M | 1998 |
20% | No Score Yet | The Keeper | Jean Baptiste (Character) | $8.3K | 1996 |
No Score Yet |
|
Down to Earth | Leão (Character) | - | 1994 |
50% |
|
Heart of Darkness | Mfumu (Character) | - | 1994 |
77% |
|
Night on Earth | Driver (Character) | $2.0M | 1992 |
100% |
|
No Fear, No Die | Dah (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Vanille Fraise | Hippolyte N'Go (Character) | - | 1989 |
14% | No Score Yet | How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired | Vieux (Character) | $29.8K | 1989 |
71% |
|
Chocolat | Protée (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lady Cops | Unknown (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Black Mic Mac | Lemi (Character) | - | 1986 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
54% | 60% | Instinct | Ben Richfield (Guest Star) | 2018 |
93% | 90% | The Good Wife | Larry Oliver (Guest Star) | 2015 |
87% | 87% | 24 | Ute Matobo (Guest Star) | 2009 |
85% | 77% | The Unit | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Sopranos (With Audio Commentary) | Father Obosi (Guest Star) | 2001 |
92% | 96% | The Sopranos | Father Obosi (Guest Star) | 2001 |
78% | 85% | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1992 |