What is John’s birthday?

He was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds but grew up in different towns in the north of England.

Does John have spouse and children?

Yes, he married English actress Kate Magowan in 2004. Reportedly, they met on the set of the film ‘Is Harry On The Boat?’ which John has a tiny cameo in. They have two children, Ryan and Molly. They lived in London for many years and relocated to Brighton during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Does John have an official website?

He does not, but the John Simm Society fansite has information about him and a blog and e-mail subscription to stay up to date on his latest projects and news. Professionally he is represented by the Independent Talent Group for his acting work and by Anthea Represents for his voiceover and commercial work.

Is John on social media?

He used to have a MySpace account in the olden days and he was on Twitter for a while but eventually deleted his account. These days you can find him on Instagram @johnsimmofficial. He occasionally interacts with fans in the comments and might answer the odd question here and there, but not necessarily in a very consistent manner.

Is this subReddit official or tied to John other than being about him?

No, it’s run by fans and has no official or unofficial connection to John at all.

What is John’s professional background?

John attended Blackpool and The Fylde College from the age of 16. At 19 he enrolled in Drama Centre London that, at the time, mostly taught stage acting according to the Stanislawski method. He has often talked in interviews and podcasts about this being a pretty rough time with little money and a harsh curriculum, and he reported that he was close to leaving on several instances during his time there.

Fresh out of drama school in the early 1990s, John got an agent and started getting guest roles on TV fairly quickly. His career started taking off when he was cast in the TV series ‘Cracker’ and then later on the feature film ‘Human Traffic’ and the BBC series ‘The Lakes’. He has worked consistently in TV and film and on stage ever since.

Who are John’s acting role models?

He has mentioned that he looks up to James Dean (particularly his role in ‘Rebel Without A Cause’), Robert DeNiro and David Thewlis. He has told the story a few times that David Thewlis kept him from quitting drama school when he was ready to walk out but then saw ‘Naked’ in the cinema and it made him go back and see it through. He has also mentioned ‘Billy Liar’ from 1963 as something that was his inspiration to become an actor. (Interestingly, in 2010 he had the chance to record the audiobook for ‘Billy Liar’.)

Does John solely appear on TV and film?

No, far from it. He has a passion for stage acting and tries to do at least one stage play every one or two years. He’s been involved in acclaimed stage productions such as ‘Elling’, ‘Three Days In The Country’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Hothouse’, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’. His next stage project is a play called ‘Blackbird’ that will premiere in February 2027 in Bath.

What is John best known for?

Some of John’s most notable projects that are known commodities are ‘Human Traffic’, ‘The Lakes’, ‘Life On Mars’, his role of The Master on ‘Doctor Who’ and more recently the title role of Roy Grace on ITV’s ‘Grace’.

What are John’s passions aside from acting?

John is a big Manchester United (football) fan, but his other big passion is music. He learned playing the guitar as a child, and as a teen toured working men’s clubs in the north with his father as a double act called ‘Us 2’. At 16, he had to decide whether to professionally pursue acting or music and chose to go the acting route.

John’s big musical passion is The Beatles and he often talks about how much he reveres their music. Other favourite singers and bands that tend to come up in conversation are Elvis, the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, New Order or Echo & The Bunnymen, the latter of which his band toured with as supporting act in the 2000s. He felt honoured that he got to play Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order in the film ’24 Hour Party People’.

John used to be in a band called ‘Magic Alex’ that disbanded in 2005. They recorded one album called ‘Dated and Sexist’.

Does he have a favourite Beatles song?

John says himself that his favourite Beatles song keeps changing almost daily. Those he has mentioned as standing out are ‘Day In The Life’, ‘What You’re Doing’, ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Come Together’, ‘Eight Days A Week’ and ‘Paperback Writer’.

Which of John’s many projects are worth watching?

Obviously this might vary from person to person as to which parts of John’s work is considered must-watch vs. nice-to-have. This Essential John Simm Watch-List might give you some insights.

Where can I watch all of John’s work?

There is no one place where all of John’s projects are available in the same place. Many of them have been released on DVD and Blu-ray or on streaming platforms around the world. Some of them are available on free local platforms such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX or the Channel 4 streaming library, some are on Netflix or other commercial streaming services. Compilation cuts of some of his work are on video platforms such as YouTube or Dailymotion. You can find more information in this John Simm Masterlist.

Which projects is John himself most proud of?

This keeps changing over time, but some of his past roles that he’s spoken highly of are Danny Kavanagh in ‘The Lakes’ and the feature film ‘Wonderland’. He is particularly proud of portraying Raskolnikov in the BBC TV mini-series ‘Crime and Punishment’, which is one of his all-time favourite books. He has also spoken positively about the mini-series ‘Exile’ and the American shows ‘Intruders’ and ‘The Catch’.

Projects that tend to come up because they were fun to shoot are ‘Mad Dogs’ and ‘The Yellow House’. The set of ‘Grace’ is also touted as being a great working environment.

‘Life On Mars’ fans are often curious if that stands out, and John is appreciative of the positive reception of the show, but he more often talks about how arduous of a time it was for him. Because he was in every single scene and had to learn a massive amount of lines, it became more of an endurance test than a fun project to work on, also because his son had just been born and he had to spend so much time away from his family.

Why do I keep seeing John with Phil Glenister?

John and Phil have been in several projects together and have developed a close friendship over the years. They have been referred to as on- and off-screen husbands and John’s wife joked at some point that they had to talk about John seeing Phil more often than his spouse. They appeared on the ITV genealogy show ‘DNA Journey’ together in 2025 to explore their ancestry, and this episode has a lot of lovely friendship moments between the two.

What are some noteworthy facts about John?

In 2024, during the preparation for the television programme ‘DNA Journey’ that he was doing together with friend and colleague Phil Glenister, John took a DNA test so that the genealogy research team could find out more about John’s ancestry. This DNA test revealed that John’s father was actually not his biological father, which came as a big surprise to John and his family. Despite this being a very personal revelation, John decided to go ahead with the episode and have it broadcast on national television. It aired on ITV in 2025.

Perhaps not necessarily a “fun” fact, but John doesn’t have a great track record about staying healthy while working. He tore a ligament in his knee during a stunt scene (most likely on ‘Chiller’), which was still healing when he was filming ‘Boston Kickout’. He broke a rib during the ‘Crime and Punishment’ shoot in St. Petersburg and he tore his calf muscle while filming the mini-series ‘Prey’, upon which they actually had to pause filming for three months. When you see him limping on screen, that’s actually real. He also almost had to cancel a show for his stage play ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 2024 because of the flu. Fingers crossed that he’ll stay healthy in the future!

Where can I talk to other John Simm fans?

The John Simm fandom heyday was probably around the time of ‘Life On Mars’ or his earliest appearance on ‘Doctor Who’, back in the 2000s. Unfortunately, the places like message boards where fans would come together don’t exist anymore. John still has an active but relatively small following on platforms such as Tumblr or TikTok. There’s a John Simm Discord server called Simply Simm that’s fairly active.