Christophe Guy Denis Lambert (; French: [lɑ̃bɛʁ]; born March 29, 1957), often credited as Christopher Lambert, is an American actor and film producer. He started his career playing supporting parts in several French films, and became internationally famous for portraying Tarzan in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). For his performance in the film Subway (1985), he received the César Award for Best Actor. He is known for his role as Connor MacLeod in the adventure-fantasy film Highlander (1986) and the subsequent television and film franchise of the same title, Raiden in Mortal Kombat (1995), Methodius in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), and Arne Seslum in Hail, Caesar! (2016). He also served as executive producer for Nine Months (1995).
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Early life
Christophe Guy Denis Lambert was born in Great Neck, New York, on March 29, 1957, the son of Yolande Agnès Henriette and Georges Lambert-Lamond, a French diplomat at the United Nations. His father was Jewish. Due to his father's work, Lambert moved with his parents to Switzerland at the age of two, and was raised in Geneva, where he attended the International School of Geneva and the Institut Florimont until his teenage years, when the family moved to France and settled in Paris. Lambert's debut in acting was in a school play age 12.
Career
Director Hugh Hudson and Warner Brothers chose Lambert, wanting an unknown actor to play Tarzan, a human raised by apes in the jungle. Lambert got the role beating out Viggo Mortensen partly thanks to his myopia, because when he took off his glasses it seemed he was always looking into the distance. Released in 1984, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, was nominated for many awards. Also that year, Lambert starred opposite Catherine Deneuve in Love Songs.
He played the lead in Luc Besson's stylistic film Subway (1985), about a man being hunted in the underground subways of Paris.
In 1986, Lambert appeared in Highlander the role for which he would be best known. In the film, Lambert starred as Connor MacLeod, an immortal warrior who could be killed only by decapitation. Lambert was cast in the role after Kurt Russell dropped out of the film and after director Russell Mulcahy saw a picture of him in a magazine. Despite barely speaking English, Lambert spent weeks learning the language before filming with a dialect coach. The film became a cult hit and was an international box-office success, rock group Queen composed and performed the soundtrack, and Lambert also appeared as MacLeod in the music video for Queen's "Princes of the Universe". In 1987, Lambert played the leading role of Salvatore Giuliano in The Sicilian, directed by Michael Cimino. In 1988, he starred in Agnieszka Holland's To Kill a Priest, in which he played a character based on Jerzy Popiełuszko and his murder under the Polish communist regime.
In 1991, Highlander II: The Quickening premiered, reuniting Lambert with director Russell Mulcahy and fellow actor Sean Connery. Shot in Argentina (which was going through a financial crisis) to reduce production costs, much of the script was not filmed and the final result was a patchwork. It was said, Lambert threatened to walk out of the project when it was nearing fruition. However, due to contractual obligations, he reconsidered. In 1992, he appeared in three projects. He appeared in the first episode of the television show Highlander: The Series, passing on the lead role to actor Adrian Paul. He also appeared in the French crime thriller Max et Jérémie, co-starring Philippe Noiret and Jean-Pierre Marielle.
In 1993, Carl Schenkel's suspense thriller Knight Moves premiered, in which Lambert was both an executive producer and the lead. Lambert plays a chess grandmaster suspected of murder. Later that year, Stuart Gordon's science fiction film Fortress premiered, with Lambert playing the lead. The story takes place in a dystopian future where a man and his wife are sent to a maximum-security prison because they are expecting a second child, which is against the strict one-child policy.
Other ventures
Lambert has written two novels: La fille porte-bonheur in 2011 and Le juge in 2015.
Along with owning a mineral water business and food processing plant, Lambert produces Côtes du Rhône wines with his business partner Eric Beaumard at a vineyard in Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes. The label, Les Garrigues de Beaumard-Lambert, tops out at 4,000 cases and is sold mostly in Europe. Beaumard has primary creative control of the winery, but Lambert conducts barrel tests and monitors the various stages of the wine's evolution.
Personal life
Lambert was married to American actress Diane Lane from 1988 until their divorce in 1994. Their daughter was born in 1993. Lambert married American actress Jaimyse Haft in 1999, and they divorced in 2000. From 2007 to 2014, he dated French actress Sophie Marceau.
Lambert has severe myopia and cannot see without his glasses. He cannot wear contact lenses and often has to perform while virtually blind, which has led to injuries while performing his own stunts.
