Simon Russell Beale

Simon Russell Beale was born in Penang, Malaysia.  He was a chorister at the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir School; went to Clifton College and then won a Choral Exhibition to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he gained a first in English, and was later awarded an Honorary Fellowship.  He trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from whom he has also received an Honorary  Fellowship.  Simon has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Warwick University.

Simon Russell Beale is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, National and Almeida Theatres.  For the RSC performances include ‘Konstantin’ in The Seagull and ‘Ariel’ in The Tempest.   For the National Theatre he played Hamlet, winning the Evening Standard Best Actor Award, the lead in Humble Boy (also West End) and ‘George’ in Jumpers (and on Broadway).   More recently he has played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and is currently appearing there in Major Barbara. 

Performances as ‘Vanya’ in Uncle Vanya and ‘Malvolio’ in Twelfth Night at the Donmar Warehouse and the Brooklyn Academy New York won him Best Actor at the 2002 Olivier and Evening Standard Awards as well as a Village Voice Obie.  Simon starred in Monty Python’s  Spamalot in New York and London.

Television work includes A Dance To The Music of Time for which he won the Royal Television Society Award and a BAFTA for Best Actor; Dunkirk, The Young Visiters and he has just been seen on BBC4 presenting the series Sacred Music.  

In 2003 Simon was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to the Arts.

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