Born in Leeds on July 10th 1970, John Ronald Simm is brother to two younger twin sisters. He grew up in Nelson, a small mill town near Burnley, in Lancashire, and attended Edge End High School. Always a music enthusiast, around the age of 11 his father Ronald, a club performer and artist, taught him to play the guitar. From that moment on father and son started double acting, calling themselves Us2 while performing in the working men's club circuit. "I'd be mortified and my dad'd be going, 'Smile, smile!'" It was about that time, at the age of 13, when he got bit by the drama bug.

It was watching James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause what triggered a reaction in him. The following day he went to his school's drama teacher, the late Brian Wellock, to tell him. "I didn't know why I wanted to say it - I just wanted to tell him, and he knew it was important to me. He said, 'Come to the class'. And that was it." And so he began taking classes and taking part in the school plays, the first of which was The Thwarting Of Baron Bolligrew, where he played the lead role.

Encouraged again by his teacher, he left home at the age of 16 and went to take a 3-year drama course at Blackpool and the Fylde College in Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool. Although he did his share of musical theatre with West Side Story and Guys and Dolls, he was already drawn to straight plays, such as Amadeus and Billy Liar.

At 19, he finally moved to London to study at the Drama Centre in Chalk Farm. "Then I came to London and it all went dark. You're a big fish in a small pool up there, but then you come down here and think, 'Oh my God. I've got no chance.'" He went through a period of frustration during which he left school, then came back the very same day after going into Camden and seeing David Thewlis' performance in Naked ("I went straight back and said, 'Teach me! Teach me!' It totally inspired me."). Despite this, he also used this time to catch up on his education by reading. It was then when he came across Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, which would become his favourite book. While at the Centre, he appeared in Camus' adaptation of another Dostoyevsky piece, The Possessed.

He graduated in 1992 and immediately got a part in an episode of the drama serial Rumpole of the Bailey. His first on-screen role, however, was supposed to be in an episode of Between the Lines, but his scene(s) got removed for the final cut. Following this, he made appearances in some other drama serials - Heartbeat and The Bill - as any young British actor must do. It was in 1994 when he landed his first lead role, as Kendle Bains in the heavily underrated TV sitcom Men of the World, alongside David Threlfall.

However, it was really in 1995 when his career as it's known today would kick off. He starred in his first motion picture, director Paul Hills' debut Boston Kickout, for which he was awarded the Best Actor Award at the Valencia Cinema Jove Film Festival. And most importantly, he made a huge impact as unstable teenager turned murderer in the cult Jimmy McGovern series Cracker.

Soon after, he was cast for the main role in McGovern's next series The Lakes as the emblematic Scouse Danny Kavanagh. Following a tough period of filming for the first instalment - "I was up in the Lake District for months and months and months, in a hotel room on my own, climbing the walls." - a continuation was aired in 1999.

Although it was eventually acting what took him out of Nelson, Simm's passion for music never wavered and - while his drama career was just taking off - in 1995 he joined Magic Alex (named after The Beatles' electrician/drug dealer) as their lead guitarist. Although they'd never get to sign a contract due to his and the rest of the band's day jobs, they enjoyed underground success and even toured with Echo and the Bunnymen on a couple of occasions. "I have to say that we lived the dream, man. We really did. We toured with the Bunnymen, we played the Royal Festival Hall and Manchester Apollo where I used to see all my bands when I was a kid." They split up around 2005 and two years later they finally released their only album - the brilliant Dated and Sexist - via iTunes.

Another turning point for the actor came in 1999. Around the same time the second and final series of The Lakes was airing, he also landed roles in two very different films which would both bring him to the public's attention. First as Eddie in Michael Winterbottom's critically acclaimed urban tale Wonderland. Then as lively Jip, the centre point of psychedelic cult clubbing film Justin Kerrigan's Human Traffic.

It was also at that time when it became even clearer to the chronically shy Simm that he both didn't endorse the celebrity craze, nor he himself wanted it in his life. "You try these places out. You get invited to award ceremonies. You go down there and see what all the fuss is about, it's very seductive. But at the end of the day it's all bollocks and you can get caught up in it."

After this successful silver screen interlude, the actor began compiling a selection of Britain's most talented writers and directors in his CV. This included Paul Abbott's Clocking Off and State of Play (directed by David Yates); Tony Marchant's Never Never, Crime and Punishment (both directed by Julian Jarrold) and Canterbury Tales episode The Knight's Tale (directed by Marc Munden); Abi Morgan's Sex Traffic (also directed by Yates); and a TV adaptation of Joe Penhall's Blue/Orange. "I've been very lucky and worked with all these people. I find it very difficult to work with anyone who's not quite as good."

But John Simm's most notable recent role is probably Mancunian time-traveller copper Sam Tyler, in the hit Kudos production for the BBC Life on Mars. Acclaimed by both the critics and the audience, this sci-fi meets cop show programme also meant a departure from his usual roles in gritty low-key dramas. "I've never done anything so mainstream and glossy before. It's quite a big deal." Not partial to long-running roles and after enduring a full-time commitment for two years, John Simm was ready to leave the series after its second instalment. The show - with its 16 one-hour episodes - is already a modern classic.

Following his roles as two truly iconic (albeit in complete different ways) characters - Vincent Van Gogh in The Yellow House and the Doctor's old nemesis the Master in Doctor Who - Simm went back to the stage in 2007, after around ten years of absence. He received rave reviews for his performance as neurotic poet-to-be mummy's boy Elling first at the Bush Theatre, then transferred to Trafalgar Studios. This acclaimed performance also earned him his first Olivier nomination.

"I’ve done so much filming, in fact most of what I’ve done has been TV and film, and I wanted to go back to my roots before it went far too long and I couldn’t face the stage." This massively successful play also helped to further prove his nearly unexploited immense comic talent.

After a well-deserved time off, Mr Simm returned to our TV screens in the form of soldier of fortune Edward Sexby, in the epic English civil war drama The Devil's Whore, written by Peter Flannery and directed by Marc Munden (their third colaboration). It was one of the highest rated dramas of 2008 for Channel 4. He is also still filming, a few weeks every year, the ambitious upcoming Michael Winterbottom project Seven Days, which is scheduled to be finished in the year 2012.

Whatever medium he chooses - cinema, television, theatre - for his future endeavours, it's certain Mister John Simm will continue to delight critics and public with fascinating projects and flawless performances.

Simm currently resides in London with his wife actress Kate Magowan and their two children, Ryan (born August 2001) and Molly (born February 2007).

Last edited | January 2009