Arana has played leading and supporting roles in over 30 European productions including films by directors Lina Wertmüller, Liliana Cavani, Carlo Verdone and Michele Soavi, and with the Japanese director Koreyoshi Kurahara in the Toho production See You.
He appeared as Quintus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, Michael Bruening in Curtis Hanson's L.A.
Arana also played the GRU sleeper agent Loginov in the 1990 film adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October, the would-be killer in 1992's The Bodyguard starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, a Belarusian resistance leader in Edward Zwick's 2008 film Defiance, and The Man In The Tan Coat in 2011's Limitless alongside Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.
He appeared in the third installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, as Bruce Wayne's lawyer.
Under Arana and artistic director Mario Martone, Falso Movimento won many awards including Best Play of the Year and Best Set Design, as well as the Mondello Prize.