JOHN SIMM

'John Ronald Simm' (born 10 July 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is an English actor and musician. He is best known for his role as Sam Tyler in the BBC detective drama ''Life on Mars''. He also appeared as the latest incarnation of the Master in the long-running BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who''.

Contents

Early life

Acting career

''Life on Mars'' and beyond

Personal life

Filmography

Television

Theatre

References

External links

Early life

Simm was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire and grew up in Nelson, Lancashire. He carries his father's name, Ronald, as his middle name. His father was a local musician who taught him to play guitar. Simm would join his father on stage in the working men’s clubs playing the guitar, he made his debut singing Elvis's Wooden Heart, and they called themselves 'Us2'.
In 1986 and at the age of 16, Simm went to Blackpool Drama College for three years, and starred in ''West Side Story''. He then attended the Drama Centre in London at the age of 18, where he studied the Stanislavski School of method acting.

Acting career

In the 1990s, the band in which Simm played guitar, Magic Alex (named after The Beatles' electrician) toured with Echo and the Bunnymen on two tours, and also sang backing vocals on an album by Echo and the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch. He also made his TV debut in 1992 with a role in the TV series ''Rumpole of the Bailey''.
In 1995, Simm played the troubled teenager Bill Nash in Jimmy McGovern's acclaimed ITV police drama, Cracker. He also starred in ''Boston Kickout'' and won the Best Actor award at the Valencia Film Festival.
In 1997, he starred in the first series of the critically acclaimed and often controversial ''The Lakes'', a BBC series written by Jimmy McGovern. In 1999, he starred in the second series of ''The Lakes'' as well as appearing in ''Human Traffic'' and ''Wonderland''.
In 2000, he starred in the opening episode of the acclaimed drama ''Clocking Off'' written by Paul Abbott, with whom he would later work on the award-winning political thriller series ''State of Play''.
In 2002, Simm featured in the film ''24 Hour Party People'' as enigmatic New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. At a live concert in Finsbury Park the same year, Simm sang "Digital" onstage with New Order. It was also this year that he played Raskolnikov in the BBC adaptation of his favourite book, ''Crime and Punishment''.
In 2004 he played a researcher and investigator for a charity in a Channel 4 drama ''Sex Traffic'', the hard hitting drama that follows the plight of two young Moldovan sisters sold into sexual slavery.

''Life on Mars'' and beyond

Simm starred as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler in the popular 2006 BBC series ''Life on Mars'' in which he played a police officer apparently sent back in time to 1973. The second series began on BBC One on February 13, 2007. The show won the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV Awards, although Simm lost out on the award for Best Actor.^[1]

In March 2007, he appeared on Channel 4 in ''The Yellow House'', a biographical drama produced by talkbackTHAMES about the lives of artists Vincent van Gogh (Simm) and Paul Gauguin (John Lynch).^[2]
In April 2007, it was announced that Simm would resume the role of Cal McCaffrey in the second series of ''State of Play'', with Bill Nighy also returning to the show although Simm has said himself that he would not be reprising the role. ^[3] Simm also returned to the theatre as the title character in Paul Miller's acclaimed Bush Theatre staging of Simon Bent's version of ''Ellling'', a comedy about two men just out of mental hospital adjusting to 'normal life' and each other. Following excellent press reviews the production was transferred to the Trafalgar Studios 1 in July 2007 for an extended West End run.
Simm joined the 2007 series of the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' as the Master, a recurring enemy of the Doctor. He made his first appearance on the 16 June 2007 episode, "Utopia", where he appeared as the Master following Derek Jacobi's brief portrayal of the character.^[4]
He will reunite with his ''Life on Mars'' co-star Philip Glenister— with whom he also appeared in ''Clocking Off'' and ''State of Play''—in the forthcoming 1980s-set crime film Tuesday, in which the pair play bank robbers.^[5] Upon the announcement of the film, Glenister joked that he and Simm were contractually obliged to work with each other once a year.

Personal life

He is married to actress Kate Magowan, who appeared alongside him in ''24 Hour Party People'', and they have two children; Ryan, born 13 August 2001, and Molly, born in February 2007. Simm is a supporter of Manchester United. ^[6]

Filmography

★ ''Tuesday'' (2008)

★ ''Ten Minute Movie'' (2004)

★ ''24 Hour Party People'' (2002)

★ ''Miranda'' (2002)

★ ''Human Traffic'' (1999)

★ ''Wonderland'' (1999)

★ ''Understanding Jane'' (1998)

★ ''Diana & Me'' (1997)

★ ''Boston Kickout'' (1995)

Television

★ ''Doctor Who'' as the Master (2007)

★ ''The Yellow House'' (2007)

★ ''Life on Mars'' as DCI/DI Sam Tyler (2006–07)

★ ''Blue/Orange'' (2005)

★ ''Sex Traffic'' (2004)

★ ''Imperium: Nerone'' (2004)

★ ''London'' (2004)

★ ''The All Star Comedy Show'' (2004)

★ ''The Canterbury Tales'' (2004)

★ ''State of Play'' (2003, 2008)

★ ''White Teeth'' (2002)

★ ''Crime and Punishment'' (2002)

★ ''Magic Hour'' (2002)

★ ''Spaced'' (2001)

★ ''Is Harry on the Boat?'' (2001)

★ ''Never Never'' (2000)

★ ''Clocking Off'' (2000)

★ ''Forgive and Forget'' (2000)

★ ''The Lakes'' Series 2 (1999)

★ ''The Locksmith'' (1997)

★ ''The Lakes'' Series 1 (1997)

★ ''Cracker'' (1995)

★ ''Chiller'' (1995)

★ ''Here Comes the Mirror Man'' (1995)

★ ''A Pinch of Snuff'' (1994)

★ ''Men of the World'' (1994)

★ ''Meat'' (1994)

★ ''Heartbeat'' (1993)

★ ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' (1992)

Theatre

★ ''Elling'' (27th April-26th May 2007) at Bush Theatre, London^[7] and (6th July-6th October 2007) at Trafalgar Studios 1, London ^[8]

References

1. Victoria Wood scoops Bafta double
2. talkbackTHAMES news release
3. It's The State Of Replay For Simm
4. John Simm: The time of his life
5. Mars stars reunite for film caper
6. My United: John Simm Manchester United Official Website, 06/03/07
7. "Cheering on the odd couple", ''The Telegraph'', 30 April 2007. Retrieved on 5 August 2007.
8. "Cop-in-a-coma is a comic revelation", ''The Telegraph'', 16 July 2007. Retrieved on 5 August 2007.

External links

★

★ ''The Man Who Fell to Earth'', Sunday Telegraph interview 5th August 2007