John Ronald Simm (born 10 July 1970) is an English actor, producer, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and Det Supt Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. His film roles include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and has won the 2014 Royal Television Society award in the Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series (Male) category for his work on the crime thriller series Prey..
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Early life
John Ronald Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, the eldest of three children. In 2024, he discovered that the man he had always thought of as his father, Manchester musician Ronald Simm, was not his biological parent, and that it was a man called Terry Smith. From the age of 12, Simm sang and played guitar with Ronald on stage in working men's clubs. He grew up in Lancashire in numerous places around northwest England, including Blackpool, Burnley, Colne, Manchester, and Nelson.
He attended Edge End High School in Nelson, where he was inspired by his drama teacher Brian Wellock. In 1986, he enrolled in a three-year performing arts course at Blackpool and The Fylde College in Blackpool. He starred in Guys and Dolls and West Side Story at Blackpool's Grand Theatre. After appearing in the next college musical, The Boyfriend, he decided that musical theatre did not interest him, and joined an amateur dramatic group, Fylde Coast Players, to hone his skills in his spare time, playing the titular roles in Billy Liar and Amadeus. He 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.
Career
In 1992, Simm made his professional acting debut playing the role of Joby Johnson in an episode of the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey. He appeared as a psycho in The Bill, as lovestruck schoolboy Richard Francis in Heartbeat, and as a drugged-up burglar in The Locksmith. From 1993, he played the lead role of Kendle Bains in two series of the BBC sitcom Men of the World. In 1995, he undertook the role of Gary Kingston, a deluded murderer, in Chiller.
In 1995, Simm played the troubled teenager Bill Preece in ITV police drama Cracker. He also made his feature film debut in Boston Kickout, which won the Palmarés (Best) Feature Film award at the 11th Cinema Jove - Valencia International Film Festival 1996. In 1996, he made his professional stage debut in the Simon Bent play Goldhawk Road at the Bush Theatre, directed by Paul Miller. In 1997 - 1999, he played lead role of Danny Kavanagh in The Lakes, a BBC series written by Jimmy McGovern. In 1999, he starred as Jip in the award-winning cult clubbing film Human Traffic and as Eddie in Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland (1999).
In 2000, he starred in the opening episode of the BBC drama Clocking Off, written by Paul Abbott, with whom he would work again in 2002 when he starred as Cal McCaffrey in the multi-award-winning political thriller series State of Play. In 2002, Simm featured in the film 24 Hour Party People as New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. It was also this year that he played Raskolnikov in the BBC adaptation of Crime and Punishment (2002), adapted by Tony Marchant. Simm played Ace in The Knight's Tale, one of a series of modern reworkings of The Canterbury Tales, and later that year, he starred opposite Christina Ricci and John Hurt in the film Miranda.
In 2004, he played the researcher and charity investigator Daniel Appleton in the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 drama Sex Traffic, which followed the plight of two young Moldovan sisters sold into sexual slavery: earning Simm a best actor nomination at the 20th Gemini Awards. After playing Dr. Bruce Flaherty in Howard Davies' production of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange, Simm starred as Detective Inspector Sam Tyler in the 2006 BBC series Life on Mars, playing a police officer sent back in time to 1973. The show won the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV Awards, Simm was nominated but lost out on the award for Best Actor.
In March 2007, he starred in Channel 4's The Yellow House, a biographical drama produced by Talkback Thames, about the turbulent relationship of artists Vincent van Gogh (Simm) and Paul Gauguin (John Lynch) when they shared a home named The Yellow House for several months; the production is based on Martin Gayford's book, also titled The Yellow House. In the same year, Simm returned to the theatre as the title character in Paul Miller's acclaimed Bush Theatre staging of Simon Bent's version of Elling, a comedy about two men just out of a psychiatric hospital adjusting to normal life and to each other. Following positive press reviews and an extended, sell-out run, the production was transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in July 2007 and Simm was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance.
Music
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Simm was a founding member, songwriter, and guitarist with the rock band Magic Alex; the band was named after "Magic Alex" Mardas, a Greek electronics engineer best known for his work with the Beatles. The group played support on two British tours with Echo & the Bunnymen. Simm plays guitar on the album Slideling by his friend, Echo & the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch. In 2002, at a live concert in Finsbury Park, he sang the Joy Division song "Digital" onstage with New Order. He also played lead guitar on a few of McCulloch's solo live shows, including one at Wembley Arena as the main support to Coldplay. Magic Alex released one album, Dated and Sexist, before splitting in 2005, after Simm decided to concentrate on acting.
Personal life
In April 2004, Simm married actress Kate Magowan in the Forest of Dean. Simm and Magowan have appeared together in five films: 24 Hour Party People, Is Harry On The Boat?, the award-winning short film Devilwood, the short film Magic Hour and the heist thriller Tuesday, as well as in the BBC Series Exile. They have two children, a son and a daughter.
In 2024, Simm agreed to appear on the British TV series DNA Journey together with fellow actor and friend Philip Glenister, with the intent to learn more about his ancestry. Through the DNA test Simm took for the series, he discovered that his dad, Ronald Simm, is not his biological father. Despite the somewhat shocking revelation, Simm decided to allow the episode to be broadcast.
