Jay Simon
| Jay Simon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 December 1966 London |
Jay Simon (born in London 17 December 1966) is a stage, film/television and voice actor best known for screen roles including: the Flight Attendant in The Wedding Date, Billy Hennessy in Jack Higgins' Midnight Man and Lionel Symon in Stephen Poliakoff's Perfect Strangers.
Early years
Jay Simon appeared as a solo singer in various productions for the English National Opera including: Carmen, Tosca and Jonathan Miller's The Magic Flute, in 1979 at the age of thirteen.
He went on to study Drama at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1988–91). After graduation he was offered a post as Assistant Director to Marina Caldarone, in George F. Walker's Nothing Sacred, an adaption of Turgenev's play Fathers and sons at Theatre Clwydd. He then spent two years with the TIE company Traffic of the Stage spending days touring shows An Introduction to Shakespeare and The Mole Catcher's Daughter, and working nights as an upper stage crew hand at the Drury Lane Theatre's production of Miss Saigon.
Career
Simon subsequently traveled to Canada, playing Lysander, in a production of A Midsummer-Night's Dream for the Edmonton Fringe Festival, Alberta, Canada and toured a one-man show, Merely Players around British Columbia. He studied film acting at Gas-town Actors' Centre, Vancouver under teacher Brent Stait.
Also in British Columbia Simon was invited to teach acting and improvisation to Canada's indigenous native actors (through the Spirit-Song Theatre Company). His most famous pupils included Chief Dan George's grandchildren.
He later enjoyed teaching Method at the Tibetan Llamo Theatre Institute, Dharamsala, India.
Returning to the U.K Simon starred as Celadon in Mike Westbrook's TV Opera Good Friday 1663, for Channel Four. (Directed by Frank Cvitanovitch).
He was subsequently offered many stage roles; including Orin Scrivello, in Jersey Opera's Little Shop of Horrors and Sky Masterson, in Pimlico Opera's Guys and Dolls. He went on to star as Mark Trelawny in A Dangerous Obsession in Hamburg and as Captain Lombard, in Vienna's English Theatre production of And Then There Were None. He was subsequently invited back to play Freddy, in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Roles in Shakespeare include Orsino in Twelfth Night and Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing (British Shakespeare Company).
Simon's other television credits include: Shortland Street, EastEnders, Highlander, The Knock, Goodnight Sweetheart, Bernard's Watch, Genie in the House, The Bill, Casualty, Holby City, Agony, Murder in Suburbia, Perfect Strangers, Comic Relief, Barbara, Fur TV and My Family.
Other Film work includes: Heavy Duty (2012), playing the villainous Russian gang leader Gregorin. Directed by Rhys Hayward and produced by Hand made films);.[1] Bollywood movie The Pinocchio Effect, This Charming Man, The Knight and the Templar, and Daybreak. He has also written, directed and starred as Fate in his own short film, The Wheel of Fortune.
Jay Simon is a voice artiste/impressionist. He has contributed to numerous current affairs programmes including: Dispatches, Panorama and BBC's Newsnight. He was one of the Gerry Adams' sound a likes during the Thatcher ban on IRA broadcasting and Jay later voiced Tony Blair for the BBC during the Hutton Inquiry. He has worked on current affairs and documentaries including: The Super Human Body, World War II in Colour, Britain at War, The Meadow and Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel.
Simon has narrated the popular television series Future Car, Egypt's Missing Queen, The Bermuda Triangle and MegaStructures. His narrated films include: The Meadow, Le Pied (as Woody Allen) and Death Leap.
Jay also voiced an American Drill Sergeant in the Award winning short film Invisible.[2]
Jay also voiced Yaevinn in the video game The Witcher.
Simon has also created many characters for many popular children's television programmes including: Finley the Fire Engine (Dex and Suds), It's a Big Big World (Oko and Wartz), Molly Monster (Papa and Edison) and the Bafta-nominated Just So Darwin (Various animals).
He can be heard on many radio and television commercials and has provided countless characters for video games including: Haze, Jericho, Spartan: Total Warrior and the title role of Kaydara.[3][4][5]
A.D.R. work is very extensive too: from The Tudors, Foyle's War and Call the Midwife on TV, to Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Defiance, Spygame and The Bourne Identity in movies to name but a few..
His most recent A.D.R contribution was on Peter Jackson's final episode of the Tolkien adaption: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).
In 2012 Jay Simon moved to New Zealand with his wife Nicola and three children where he continues to work in television and theatre. He has appeared in The Guy and Harley Show and the popular soap Shortland Street, as English heart surgeon Dr John Petersen.[6]
Feature Film appearances in NZ include Older (Pigville Productions 2015) and ARA (Zodiac entertainment 2016).[7]
Since arriving in New Zealand Simon has worked on short films The Black Dog (2013), and two short Zombie horror films Clear Eyes: The Rise of the Zombies and Clear Eyes: The Scourge of the Zombies (2014) Directed by Fred Potts and produced by Black widow films.[8]
In 2013 he voiced one of the alien villains Blufur in the popular children's Sci-fi series Power Rangers: Megaforce.[9]
Simon recently returned to London to star in a musical movie version of the popular animated children's' series Molly Monster (reprising the roles of Papa and Edison, with The Monster Captain with other smaller parts thrown in...)[10]
Jay enjoys the outdoor life New Zealand has to offer; in his spare time he likes mountain-biking, fishing or just messing about having fun on his boat with the family and dog.
References
- ↑ http://www.heavydutymovie.co.uk
- ↑ (Directed by Harry Chapman, 2011.)
- ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,155553/
- ↑ http://www.giantbomb.com/jay-simon/72-85345/
- ↑ http://shootingpeople.org/cards/JaySimon
- ↑ Shortland Street at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ http://zodiacentertainment.co.nz/
- ↑ http://www.blackwidowfilms.com
- ↑ http://www.megaforcecast.com/cast/jay-simon.php
- ↑ To be released in 2016