French actor Mathieu Amalric. Portrait by Fabrizio Maltese for EF Images, all rights reserved.

Mathieu Amalric (above) has had a banner year in 2007 with no less than six films coming out in French cinemas, including Un Secret, Michou d'Auber, Actrices (Actresses) and Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). He also worked on three of 2008's most anticipated films: the as yet untitled 22nd James Bond film, in which he will play the no-doubt evil antagonist of 007, and the two-part French gangster saga L'instinct de mort and L'ennemi public n° 1, with Vincent Cassel in the role of one of the most notorious criminals in French history and Amalric as his "lieutenant". Amalric is also one of the 25 faces selected by photographer Fabrizio Maltese for his 2007 portrait series. The european-films.net photographer offers last year's best pictures of cinema personalities from around the globe on the website of the image bank EF Images.