Isaach de BankoléFilmography

Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Though perhaps most famous for his work with director Jim Jarmusch, distinguished African-born actor Isaach de Bankolé actually spent his first 20 years onscreen building up a formidable resumé of collaborations with many maverick filmmakers, from Claire Denis to Julian Schnabel. That fact alone...Read More

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The Limits of Control

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Hiam Abbass, Gael García Bernal, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas

Synopsis: A mysterious loner attempts to successfully complete his criminal mission while operating outside of the law in contemporary Spain. His objectives shrouded in secrecy, the untrusting lone wolf (Isaach de Bankolé) sets out on his latest assignment knowing that the law is never too far behind. Bill Murray Read More

5/1/09
24: Season 07

Actors: Kiefer Sutherland, Cherry Jones, Janeane Garofalo, Annie Wersching, Carlos Bernard

2009
White Material

Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Isaach de Bankolé, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William Nadylam

Synopsis: In this drama directed and co-written by Claire Denis, Isabelle Huppert plays Maria, a white woman living in an African nation that has been falling into political chaos. Maria owns a coffee plantation, and regards her property as her personal domain; she would rather fight that give up her land Read More

2009
The Guitar

Actors: Saffron Burrows, Isaach de Bankolé, Paz de la Huerta, Janeane Garofalo

Synopsis: A doomed woman discovers her creative spirit during a final fling with life in this independent drama. Melody Wilder (Saffron Burrows) is already having a bad day when she visits her doctor about a troubling lump in her throat -- her boyfriend has left her, and she's lost her job. However, this Read More

11/7/08
Battle in Seattle

Actors: Charlize Theron, André Benjamin, Martin Henderson, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Jennifer Carpenter

Synopsis: Actor-turned-filmmaker Stuart Townsend makes his screenwriting and directorial debut with this ensemble film set during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and presenting the riots that swept through the streets during the five-day conference from the perspectives of police Read More

9/19/08
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Actors: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais

Synopsis: The astonishing true-life story of Jean-Dominic Bauby -- a man who held the world in his palm, lost everything to sudden paralysis at 43 years old, and somehow found the strength to rebound -- first touched the world in Bauby's best-selling autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (aka La Read More

12/19/07
From Other Worlds

Actors: Cara Buono, Isaach de Bankolé, David Lansbury

Synopsis: A despondent Brooklyn housewife whose life has become a boring and predictable routine finds her entire perception of the universe changed upon experiencing a close-encounter in her very own kitchen. Joanne Schwartzbaum (Cara Buono) has been sleepwalking her way through life for as far back as she Read More

1/19/07
Casino Royale

Actors: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino

Synopsis: Actor Daniel Craig assumes the role formerly occupied by such screen greats as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton to set out on the character's very first 007 mission. James Bond has earned his "00" status by masterfully executing a pair of death-defying professional assassinations. Now Read More

11/17/06
Miami Vice

Actors: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds

Synopsis: Writer and director Michael Mann updates the groundbreaking television crime series he created in the 1980s with this stylish thriller. Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) and Sonny Crockett (Colin Farrell) are two police detectives working undercover in Florida; Tubbs is smart, cool, and resourceful Read More

7/28/06
Manderlay

Actors: Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach de Bankolé, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Michael Abiteboul

Synopsis: The politics of slavery and the follies of nation-building highlight Danish director Lars von Trier's thought-provoking follow-up to the director's 2003 drama Dogville, featuring The Village's Bryce Dallas Howard in the role originally played by Nicole Kidman, and shot in the same stage-bound Read More

1/27/06
Stay

Actors: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Ryan Gosling, Janeane Garofalo, B.D. Wong, Bob Hoskins

Synopsis: A man struggling to save the life of another finds himself drawn into a strange netherworld he didn't know existed in this stylish thriller. Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) is a psychiatrist living in New York City with his girlfriend, Lila Culpepper (Naomi Watts), who was once one of his patients. Read More

10/21/05
The Skeleton Key

Actors: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant

Synopsis: A young woman discovers a terrible secret while caring for an elderly man in this supernatural thriller. Caroline (Kate Hudson) is a care provider for the aged who is hired away from the hospice where she works by Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands). Violet needs someone to help take care of her Read More

8/12/05
5 Up 2 Down

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Kirk Acevedo

Synopsis: A drug-addicted artist and a hustler struggling with prophetic dreams and family issues set out on a spiritual journey that began 140 years ago in director Steven Kessler's impressionistic addiction drama. Santo (Isaach de Bankolé) is a street-smart city dweller who has recently taken to recording Read More

2005
The Black Widow

Actors: Giada Colagrande, Seymour Cassel, Willem Dafoe, Emily McDonnell, Isaach de Bankolé, Claudio Botosso

Synopsis: Not to be confused with the 1987 Bob Rafelson/Debra Winger thriller of the same title, the 2005 Black Widow stars Giada Colagrande as Eleanora, a woman amorously involved with the shady and eccentric Karl. When Karl dies, Eleanora embarks on a trip to his bizarre home -- known as 'The Rubber Read More

2005
Coffee and Cigarettes

Actors: Roberto Benigni, Steven Wright, Joie Lee, Cinqué Lee, Steve Buscemi

Synopsis: Jim Jarmusch's black-and-white feature Coffee and Cigarettes contains three vignettes originally released as short films along with separate yet somewhat related sketches. As the title suggests, most of the vignettes involve famous people smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. The first, "Coffee Read More

5/14/04
The Killing Zone

Synopsis: The sophomore effort from writer/director Joe Brewster, this psychological drama centers on Malcolm (Isaach de Bankolé), a man who sees his entire reality torn apart when his father is suddenly murdered. In the aftermath of the killing, Malcolm reflects for the first time on his life which began Read More

2002
Otomo

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Eva Mattes

Synopsis: Frieder Schlaich directs this horrific look at racism in modern Germany. Loosely based on a real-life incident that scandalized Stuttgart in 1989, the film recounts the final day of a Liberian political refugee. Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) cannot find even the most modest of jobs because of his Read More

10/5/01
3 A.M.

Actors: Danny Glover, Pam Grier, Michelle Rodriguez, Sergej Trifunovic, Sarita Choudhury

Synopsis: New York City may be the city that never sleeps, but that means some people have to stay awake all night to look after the folks whose days begin after the sun goes down; this made-for-premium-cable drama looks at a group of cabbies trying to get by while working the night shift. The Lady Luck Cab Read More

2001
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Actors: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Isaach de Bankolé, Frank Minucci

Synopsis: A surreal crime drama told as only Jim Jarmusch could, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai stars Forest Whitaker as Ghost Dog, a hit man living in an unidentified but run-down city in what license plates call "The Industrialized State." Known for his gift of being able to come and go without people Read More

3/3/00
Cherry

Actors: Shalom Harlow, Jake Weber, Isaach de Bankolé, Laurel Holloman, Donovan Leitch

Synopsis: In the romantic comedy Cherry, Leila Sweet (Shalom Harlow) has begun to hear the faint rumblings of her biological clock at the age of 29. This isn't unusual in itself, but Leila's key obstacle in her dilemma about having a child is rather uncommon -- she's still a virgin. Leila was stood up at Read More

1999
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries

Actors: Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, Leelee Sobieski, Jesse Bradford, Anthony Roth Costanzo

Synopsis: James Ivory directed this drama adapted from Kaylie Jones's 1990 autobiographical novel in which the character Bill Willis is based on her father, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and A Thin Red Line. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay about expatriate Americans in Paris during the Read More

9/18/98
The Keeper

Actors: Giancarlo Esposito, Regina Taylor, Isaach de Bankolé, Ron Brice, O.L. Duke

Synopsis: Much of this absorbing, grim psychological thriller is set within Brooklyn's Kings County House of Detention and follows the moral downfall of an idealistic, straight-arrow black correctional officer, 36-year-old Paul Lamont. Strongly believing in prison reform yet horrified by the never-ending Read More

1996
Casa de Lava

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Edith Scob, Pedro Hestnes, Raul Andrade

Synopsis: This rather esoteric Portuguese-French drama is filled with poetic imagery. It is notable for it's beautiful photography as it follows a devoted nurse from her Portuguese home to the strange Cape Verde islands. Mariana is the nurse assigned to care for the injured immigrant worker Leao who is in a Read More

1994
Heart of Darkness

Actors: John Malkovich, Tim Roth

Synopsis: Previously the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), the dark novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a parable about greed-inspired colonialism, was adapted into this television movie by offbeat filmmaker Nicolas Roeg. Ambitious sailor Marlow (Tim Roth) is employed by Read More

1994
Night on Earth

Actors: Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Rosie Perez, Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Roberto Benigni, Lisanne Falk, Béatrice Dalle

Synopsis: Jim Jarmusch's deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring simultaneously in five different cities and five different time zones -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The Los Angeles episode Read More

5/1/92
S'en Fout la Mort

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-Claude Brialy, Solveig Dommartin

Synopsis: The two black men in this tragedy live on the fringes of French society, and come from Africa and the Caribbean. Among the things they share in common is involvement in the illegal sport of cockfighting. The film follows their exploits and daily lives among the poor of France, as they train their Read More

1990
Vanille Fraise

Actors: Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azéma, Isaach de Bankolé, Jacques Perrin, Riccardo Cucciolla

Synopsis: In this romantic comedy/spy thriller, Clarissa Boulanger (Sabine Azema) is eager to take a breather from her deteriorating marriage, so when the French Secret Service asks her to team up with Hippolyte (Isaach de Bankole) and pose as a newlywed in order to thwart the shipment of powerful weapons Read More

11/29/89
Chocolat

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet, Jean-Claude Adelin, Cécile Ducasse

Synopsis: Set in French Colonial Africa, Chocolat is told from the viewpoint of 8-year-old Cecile Ducasse. With no other frame of reference, the innocent Ducasse accepts the subjugation of the black natives by the white colonists as the natural order of things. The girl grows gradually aware of the social Read More

3/10/89
How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired

Actors: Isaach de Bankolé, Roberta Bizeau, Maka Kotto, Myriam Cyr, Marie-Josée Gauthier

Synopsis: Set in the 1960s this comedy, based on the autobiographical novel of the same title by Haitian author Dany Laferriere this comedy centers on the sexploits of an aspiring African writer living in Montreal. When not clacking away on his novel (same as the title), he is out picking up white women Read More

1989
Ada Dans La Jungle

Actors: Marie Louisa, Richard Bohringer, Victoria Abril, Isaach de Bankolé, Bernard Blier

Synopsis: This tepid actioner is taken from the popular comic strip by Francesco Altan. Ada (Marie Louisa) is the heir who promises her dying father she will look for the son he left behind in Africa 20 years before. Her scheming cousin Nancy (Charley Boorman) tries to get Ada disinherited. Ada runs into Read More

1989
Les Keufs

Actors: Josiane Balasko, Isaach de Bankolé, Ticky Holgado, Jean-Marie Marion, Patrick Olivier, Jean-Pierre Léaud

Synopsis: Mireille (Joisane Balasko) is a female cop who leads a crusade against the neighborhood pimp in this comedy drama. She falls for the black detective who is sent to investigate charges of corruption. Their relationship is adversarial before it becomes congenial. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide Read More

1988
Taxi Boy

Actors: Claude Brasseur, Richard Berry, Charlotte Valandrey, Evelyne Didi, Isaach de Bankolé

Synopsis: An unusual assortment of characters is brought together in this film noir influenced story: Petrus (Claude Brasseur) spends his life escaping the gamblers he cheated at the card table. Manuel (Richard Berry) has an ambition to open a tango school, but in the meantime he drives a cab for a living. Read More

1986
Black Mic-Mac

Actors: Jacques Villeret, Isaach de Bankolé, Felicite Wouassi, Khoudia Seye, Cheikh Doukouré

Synopsis: This is a charming and successful farce from director Thomas Gilou, featuring a witty screenplay co-authored by producer Monique Annaud. When a group of African squatters in Paris are threatened with eviction, they find themselves fighting against a bureaucracy that few French citizens understand Read More

1986
Noir et Blanc

Actors: Francis Frappat, Jacques Martial, Josephine Fresson, Marc Berman, Benoit Regent

Synopsis: A white accountant finds himself irresistibly drawn into a sadomasochistic relationship with his black masseur in this distinguished film debut from French filmmaker Claire Devers. The story contains little dialog and is filmed in black and white. The accountant is a quiet married man who has been Read More

1986