'Inferno's Bouchard Is A Total Stand-Out

Inferno, the second sequel to 2006's The Da Vinci Code, brings clever professor and reluctant world-saver Robert Langdon back yet again for another suspenseful caper (and some super fancy European sights that mean viewers can travel vicariously through him). Tom Hanks is once again reprising his role as Langdon in the movie — which is based, like the others in the series, off of the Dan Brown book of the same name — and a talented team of actors have been cast alongside him as he fights to stop a deadly virus from being released. Those include Felicity Jones as Dr. Sienna Brooks and Ben Foster as Dr. Bertrand Zobriest, but one character new to the story is Christoph Bouchard, a somewhat altered version of the character of Christopher Bruder in the book. Even if you're not sure who plays Bouchard in Inferno, you likely recognize the actor's face.

Bouchard is portrayed by French actor Omar Sy, a face you'll surely recognize if, like many people, you've spent the past few warm seasons enjoying the latest smash summer blockbusters. Those of you who embarked on a journey to Jurassic World during the summer of 2015 know Sy as astute raptor trainer and caretaker Barry, who in his most gripping scene ended up trapped in a log after a vicious Indominus Rex causes the raptors to turn on him. In an interview, Sy told MTV's Crystal Bell that Barry escaped by waiting, and then, "after the raptor left, he just ran really, really fast."

Superhero fans might also recognize Sy as the character of Bishop from 2014's wildly successful X-Men: Days of Future Past . As the energy-absorbing character, Sy was decked out in an awesome red superhero costume complete with, as Sy told The Source, "a really big gun, a big one."

But Sy is much more than his latest American blockbusters, as French filmgoers surely know. The actor is well-known in France for his acting and comedic work, racking up dozens of impressive credits, including several projects with directorial duo Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Sy starred in their 2014 project Samba alongside another well-known French actor and crossover success, Charlotte Gainsbourg, in a role that the Nakache and Toledano created specifically for him. Before that, he found his breakthrough role in Nakache and Toledano's 2011 film The Intouchables, which earned him a César Award for Best Actor (the French equivalent of an Oscar). And his comedy duo Omar et Fred, with Fred Testot, started cracking up French audiences in 2005.

Sy's diverse body of work has been bringing in audiences around the world, and he told MTV in the interview mentioned earlier that he hopes to be in many more Hollywood blockbusters. But no matter what, he said, "I can’t be a Hollywood guy, I’m a French guy." Let's hope this loyal Frenchman brings his talents to American movies for many more years to come.

Images: Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox