Jay Simon

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Jay Simon
Born (1966-12-17) 17 December 1966 (age 55)
London, England
OccupationActor/Voiceover artist
Spouse(s)Nicola
Children3

Jay Simon (born 17 December 1966) is a British stage, film/television and voice actor best known for screen roles including: Alan Griever in Filthy Rich {TVNZ},Senator Regulus in [Stephen David Entertainment][Netflix Entertainment] , Papa Monster and Edisson in , the Flight Attendant in The Wedding Date, Billy Hennessy in Jack Higgins' and Lionel Symon in Stephen Poliakoff's Perfect Strangers.

Early years[]

Jay Simon was born on 17 December 1966 in London. He 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 , in George F. Walker's Nothing Sacred, an adaption of Turgenev's play Fathers and sons at Theatr Clwyd. He then spent two years with the TIE company spending days touring shows and , and working nights as an upper stage crew hand at the Drury Lane Theatre's production of Miss Saigon.

Career[]

Simon subsequently travelled 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, he was invited to teach acting and improvisation to Canada's indigenous native actors (through the ). His most famous pupils included Chief Dan George's grandchildren.

He later enjoyed teaching Method at the Tibetan , Dharamsala, India.

Returning to the U.K., he starred as Celadon in Mike Westbrook's TV Opera , for Channel Four directed by . He was subsequently offered stage roles, including Orin Scrivello in 's Little Shop of Horrors and Sky Masterson, in Pimlico Opera's Guys and Dolls. He went on to star as Mark Trelawny in in The English Theatre of 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 for the 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: (2012), playing the villainous Russian gang leader Gregorin. Directed by Rhys Hayward and produced by Hand made films);[1] Bollywood movie , This Charming Man, , and . He has also written, directed and starred as Fate in his own short film, The Wheel of Fortune.

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 artists who dubbed Gerry Adams' voice during the 1988–94 ban on IRA broadcasting, and he later voiced Tony Blair for the BBC during the Hutton Inquiry. He has worked on current affairs programmes and documentaries including , World War II in Colour, , The Meadow, , and .

He has narrated the popular television series , , , and MegaStructures. His narrated films include The Meadow, (as Woody Allen) and .

He voiced an American Drill Sergeant in the award-winning short film .[2]

Jay has voiced characters in over forty video games including the character of Yaevinn in the video game The Witcher. Most recently he voiced Einhar Frey and Nico the Mad for the New Zealand produced Path of Exileand Nick Lighbearer and Johnny Bolton among many characters for the dystopian nightmare video game Compulsion Games.

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), (Papa and Edison) and the Bafta-nominated (various animals).

He can be heard on many radio and television commercials and has provided countless characters for video games including : Path of ExileGrinding Gear Games, Haze, Jericho, Spartan: Total Warrior and the title role of .[3][4][5][6]

A.D.R. work includes The King (Netflix 2019), The Program (Working Title Films 2015), The Tudors, Foyle's War and Call the Midwife on TV, and Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Defiance, Spygame and The Bourne Identity in film. 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 Simon moved to New Zealand with his wife Nicola and three children, where he continues to work in television and theatre. He has appeared as Alan Griever in Filthy Rich', Senator Regulus in ' (2019)' Aarne in , Bryan Petersen in an NZ/Danish co produced TV series , and the popular soap Shortland Street as English heart surgeon Dr John Petersen.[7] Feature film appearances include (Pigville Productions 2015) and (Zodiac entertainment 2016).[8] He has worked on short films The Black Dog (2013), friends like these (2017), 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.[9]

In 2013 he voiced one of the alien villains Blufur in the popular children's sci-fi series Power Rangers: Megaforce.[10] This was followed by two more seasons of Power Rangers.In 2016 He voiced the monster Hunter in Power Rangers Dino Charge and in 2018 the monsters Gorrox and Versix for Power Rangers Ninja Steel.

Simon later briefly returned to London to star in a musical movie version of the popular animated children's series (reprising the roles of Papa and Edison, and other smaller parts including the Monster Captain).[11]

Back in New Zealand Jay has since voiced the Thoriphant Bounty and Man in the Kiwi animated 2019 feature Mosley (Huhu Studios) and various characters and sheep in the popular Kiwi animated series I Don't Want A Herd as well as the Skaer and the Codex for the popular cult movie (2016) .

References[]

  1. ^ http://www.heavydutymovie.co.uk[dead link]
  2. ^ "Invisible - BUFF 2011 - The British Urban Film Festival 2011". cargocollective.com.
  3. ^ http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,155553/[dead link]
  4. ^ "Jay Simon (Person)". Giant Bomb.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Announcing Path of Exile: Delve". reddit. 9 August 2018.
  7. ^ Shortland Street at IMDb
  8. ^ "ZODIAC ENTERTAINMENT | Motion Picture Production Company".
  9. ^ "Home". blackwidowfilms.com.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "Molly Monster - the Movie". bernfilm.ch.

External links[]

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