31 Facts About John Simm

1.

John Ronald Simm was born on 10 July 1970 and is an English actor, director, and musician.

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2.

John Simm is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and most recently DS Roy Grace in Grace.

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3.

John Simm has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

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4.

John Ronald Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, the eldest of three children.

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5.

John Simm grew up in Lancashire in numerous places around northwest England, including Blackpool, Burnley, Colne, Manchester, and Nelson.

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6.

John Simm attended Edge End High School in Nelson, where he was inspired by his drama teacher Brian Wellock.

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7.

John Simm then moved to London at the age of 19 to train at the Drama Centre London, where he studied Stanislavski's system of method acting.

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8.

John Simm's acting teacher was Reuven Adiv, whom he credits as a major influence on his life.

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9.

John Simm played lead guitar on a few of McCulloch's solo live shows, including one at Wembley Arena as the main support to Coldplay.

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10.

John Simm made two series of the BBC sitcom Men of the World, playing the lead role of Kendle Bains.

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11.

In 1995, John Simm played the troubled teenager Bill Preece in the acclaimed ITV police drama Cracker.

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12.

John Simm made his feature film debut in Boston Kickout, beating Dennis Hopper to the Best Actor award at the Valencia Film Festival.

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13.

In 2002, John Simm featured in the film 24 Hour Party People as New Order frontman Bernard Sumner.

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14.

In 2007, Simm was chosen by Russell T Davies to play an incarnation of the Master, the nemesis of the Doctor, in the long-running BBC series Doctor Who.

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15.

John Simm performed at the Royal Variety Performance with Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, and starred in the film Skellig, broadcast on Sky1 in April 2009.

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16.

John Simm became involved in an ongoing project with Michael Winterbottom called Everyday, to be filmed in real time over five years.

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17.

John Simm returned to the West End stage in autumn of 2009 to critical acclaim, starring in the Andrew Bovell play Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre.

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18.

John Simm played Baxter in the project, that reunited him with Philip Glenister and Marc Warren along with Max Beesley and Ben Chaplin.

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19.

On BBC One in May 2011, John Simm starred as Tom Rondstadt in Exile, alongside Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, and John Simm's wife, Kate Magowan.

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20.

John Simm's performance earned him his second BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.

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21.

From 17 May to 9 June 2012, John Simm starred as Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal at the Crucible Theatre.

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22.

John Simm then completed work on the three-part thriller, Prey, in which he plays detective Marcus Farrow.

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23.

In February 2014, John Simm began filming the BBC America eight-parter Intruders in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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24.

Later that year, John Simm played Alec Jeffreys, the man who discovered DNA fingerprinting, in Code of a Killer, a two-part drama for ITV.

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25.

John Simm appeared for the first time at The National Theatre, playing the role of Rakitin to great acclaim, in Patrick Marber's Three Days in the Country, and was reunited with Jamie Lloyd, playing the role of Lenny in the 50th anniversary production of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming in London's West End.

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26.

John Simm played the character of Rhys Griffiths, a recurring character in season 1 and a regular in season 2.

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27.

John Simm then starred in Strangers on ITV, starring as Jonah Mulray, a professor whose life comes crashing down when his wife is killed in a car crash in Hong Kong.

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28.

John Simm starred in Pinter Six, consisting of Party Time and Celebration.

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29.

John Simm took the title role of Macbeth in the Chichester Festival Theatre production that ran from 21 September to 26 October 2019.

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30.

On 13 December 2019, John Simm was announced to be reprising his role as the Master again in Masterful, an audio drama from Big Finish Productions, alongside several other actors who have played the role.

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31.

John Simm is currently playing the title role of DS Roy Grace in Grace, based on Peter James's best-selling crime fiction series novels.

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