Early Years
John Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. When he was 5 years old, his parents Ronald and Brenda moved to Nelson, Lancashire where John grew up. John, his parents and his two sisters – John being the eldest of the 3 - moved around the North West, including Manchester, Colne, Burnley and Blackpool.
His father, a musician, taught him to play guitar. From age 12 John joined his father on stage in the working men’s clubs and they became a semi-professional double act, calling themselves Us2. John made his debut singing Elvis's 'Wooden Heart' with his father.
John attended Edge End High School in Nelson, Lancashire, where John was bitten by the acting bug for the first time and got encouragment from his drama teacher, Brian Wellock.
When he was 16, John went to Blackpool and The Fylde College in St Annes for three years, starring in Guys and Dolls and West Side Story, but left it early for a part in "Rumpole of the Bailey". Soon after, he joined an amateur dramatic group, playing the title roles in Billy Liar and Amadeus.
He then moved to London, at age 19, to train at the Drama Centre London, where he studied the Stanislavski School of Method acting.
John appeared in a Dostoyevsky piece, Camus’ adaptation of the novel 'The Possessed', alongside fellow students Craig Kelly and Joe Duttine during his study in Drama Centre in London.
John graduated in 1992 and went on to play parts in various TV shows until he got the parts in “Cracker” and “Boston Kickout”, the latter of which won him Best Actor Award at the Valencia Film Festival in Spain.
