- Jean was raised Catholic, and he states that he has a spiritual relationship with God. However, he does not consider himself a religious man.
- Popular author, Dan Brown, created a role based loosely on Jean in his best seller, The Da Vinci Code. The character that he created was Bezu Fache, who was often referred to as "the bull" by his subordinates.
- Jean is a big fan of Elvis Presley. In fact, he is able to imitate Elvis' voice. He used Elvis's trademark, "Thank you very much" in his role in Godzilla.(1998)
- In 2000, Jean won the Outstanding European Achievement in World Cinema at the European Film Awards.
- In 2001, Jean was nominated for the Audience Award for Best Actor
for: Les Rivières pourpres (2000).
- In 1989, Jean was nominated for the César for Best Actor (Meilleur acteur)
for: Le Grand bleu (1988).
- In 1994, Jean was nominated for the César for Best Actor (Meilleur acteur)
for: Les Visiteurs (1993).
- In 1995, Jean was nominated for the César for Best Actor (Meilleur acteur)
for: Léon (1994).
- Jean appeared in a TV commercial for UPS France in 2005.
- Jean appeared in the music video of the song "I'll see it through" by Sharleen Spiteri's band Texas.
- Jean appeared in a TV commercial for Association Perce-neige in the 1990s.
- Jean plays "Bezu Fache" in The Da Vinci Code (2006). Before that film was made, Harvey Keitel played a similar role in National Treasure (2004), which also deals with historical secrets being kept by ancient societies, including the Knights Templar. Keitel also played "The Cleaner" in Point of No Return (1993), which was a remake of Nikita (1990), in which Reno played "The Cleaner."
- Due to Jean's tall, hulking frame, he mostly played villainous brutes early on in his career. Thanks to his many talents, he has broken away from this stereotype and has played everything from romantic-comedy leads to action heroes.
- Jean had a role in every play of stage director Didier Flamand from 1977 to 1981, and then had the lead role in Flamand's first short movie La Vis (1993).
- Jean also has two children with his second wife Nathalie. A son named Tom born in 1996, and daughter Serena born in 1998.
- Jean met his second wife, model Nathalie Dyszkiewicz, on the Champs Elysées (Paris' biggest avenue).
- Jean has two children by his first wife, Geneviève. Daughter Sandra, born in 1978, and son Mickael born in 1980.
- Jean has twice played characters who had the occupation of "cleaner" (not the mop & bucket kind). Jean appeared as the psychotic "Victor the Cleaner" (Victor Nettoyeur) in Nikita (1990), and the calm assassin "Léon" in The Professional (1994) (also known Léon).
- Jean turned down the role of "Agent Smith" in the The Matrix (1999) to co-star in Godzilla (1998).
- Jean currently resides in Paris, France.
- Jean's mother died when he was an adolescent.
- Jean has been married twice. First to Geneviève, their divorce date is unknown at this time. Then in 1996, Jean married Nathalie Dyszkiewicz - they are still married.
- Jean(On souvenirs from his film sets): Sometimes I take the watch, or I take the shoes, but usually the souvenir is to take the life you had with those directors, or the crew - the camera person, the lighting person. When you finish a film it's like a little death. You had a family for a bit, and you finish the movie and you probably will never see each other again.
- Jean: Actually, I only have a few friends in real life. And when I say friends, I'm referring to those people who I've known since the 1960s.
- Jean: The advantage of being eighty years old is that one has had many people to love.
