Mika Simmons

Last updated

Mika Simmons
Born
Greenwich, London, UK
Education University of Leeds
Alma mater Drama Studio London
Occupation(s)Actress and filmmaker
Organization RSP Productions
Relatives Keir Simmons
Website MikaSimmons.com

Mika Simmons is a British actress and film-maker who is known for playing Queen Anora on Dragon Age, [1] [2] the BAFTA winning Falling Apart, [3] [4] [5] and BBC Showtrial, [6] and the award-winning Rain Stops Play and My Week With Maisy. [7] [8]

Contents

Simmons is also a campaigner for women's health. In 2013, she started a charity Lady Garden Foundation, which aims to raise awareness of gynaecological cancers and fund research into treatments. [9] She interviews experts and survivors about their experiences with women's health on her podcast The Happy Vagina. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Early life

Simmons was born in Greenwich, London. Her brother is journalist Keir Simmons. [14] Aged six, her family moved to Somerset where she attended Wellsway Comprehensive school and joined Bristol Youth Theatre. She then attended University of Leeds to study theatre, graduating with a BA in English Literature and Theatre Studies. [15] Following graduation, Simmons moved to London to train as an actress at the Drama Studio London. [16]

Career

In 1998, Simmons was cast in the role of "Prudence" in ITV's Frenchman's Creek, a TV film based on the novel of the same name. [17] [18] In 2002, she appeared in Channel 4's TV movie, Falling Apart, a period drama, about domestic violence in a middle-class relationship in Britain. [19] [20] [21] [22] In 2011, Simmons played in the play, You Once Said Yes, which won both the Fringe First and Total Theatre awards. [23] [ failed verification ] [24]

Simmons has appeared in the ITV drama, Unforgotten . [25] [26] In 2016, she appeared in Film London's short Balcony. [27] [15] The film went on to win a Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. [11] In 2019 she played a part in Us Among the Stones, directed by D.R. (Dictynna) Hood. [28] [29] In 2020, she appeared in the BBC drama Showtrial . [30] In 2023, Simmons played Jill in Disruption at Off West End Park Theatre alongside Nathaniel Curtis. [31] [32] [33] [34]

In 2019, Simmons wrote and directed her first short film, Rain Stops Play, a comedy short about sex and the sexes, featuring Tara Fitzgerald and produced by Jackie Green and Roberta Moore. [35] It won the Silver Remi for Best Comedy Short at the Houston Film Festival. [12] [13] The film has been shown at Underwire Festival [36] and Portobello Film Festival [37] and premiered at Fragments Festival, Genesis Cinema, London. [38]

In 2020, Simmons started The Happy Vagina platform "dedicated to opening up the conversation around women's experience and gynaecological health" [39] [26] and her podcast, in which she discusses sex and intimacy with well-known women. [40] [41] [42] [43]

Simmons' first book The Happy Vagina was published on 4 August 2022. [44]

Activism

Simmons is co-founder and co-chair of the Ginsburg Women's Health Board, working with government towards closing the gender health gap. [45] [46]

Simmons is one of the six women who in 2013 co-founded the Lady Garden Foundation, a charity which raises awareness and funding for gynaecological health. [47] [48] [49] The charity has been supported by Topshop, [50] Sarah, Duchess of York, [51] and Princess Beatrice. [52] It has raised over £1,000,000 since 2014 to assist research at the Royal Marsden Hospital into treatments including the use of Olaparib, led by Susana Banerjee who inspired Simmons to start the foundation. [53] [54]

In 2017, Simmons was chosen as one of 40 women to front Lancôme's campaign with the strapline "My power is acting" and a brief profile. [55] In 2021, Simmons was chosen as one of five Harper's Bazaar visionaries for the year. [56]

Awards

Simmons' directorial debut, 'Rain Stops Play', won the Silver Remi for best comedy at Houston World Film Festival. [35] [13] [11]

In 2021 Simmons won Best international Director at Portland Film Festival. [57]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Smith</span> English actress (born 1934)

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith is an English actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she has had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and is one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She has received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards. Smith is one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Tushingham</span> British actress (born 1942)

Rita Tushingham is a British actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including A Taste of Honey (1961), The Leather Boys (1964), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Smashing Time (1967). For A Taste of Honey, she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and Most Promising Newcomer at both the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Her other film appearances include An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Under the Skin (1997), Being Julia (2004), and Last Night in Soho (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Henderson</span> Scottish actress (born 1965)

Shirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rena Owen</span> New Zealand actress

Maria Makarena Owen, known professionally as Rena Owen, is a New Zealand actress in theatre, television and film. Owen is best known for her leading role as Beth Heke in Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors and as Taun We in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne-Marie Duff</span> British actress

Anne-Marie Duff is an English actress and narrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Walker</span> British actress (born 1970)

Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllis Logan</span> Scottish actress (born 1956)

Phyllis Logan is a Scottish actress, widely known for her roles as Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the 1983 film Another Time, Another Place. Her other film appearances include Secrets & Lies (1996), Shooting Fish (1997), Downton Abbey (2019) and Misbehaviour (2020).

Antonia Jane Bird, FRSA was an English producer and director of television drama and feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Marsan</span> British actor

Edward Maurice Charles Marsan is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Wilson</span> British actress

Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). From 2019 to 2022, she portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).

Dennis Kelly is a British writer and producer. He has worked for theatre, television and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Grant</span> English actress and singer

Rebecca Helena Grant de Longueuil is an English actress and singer, known for her roles as Daisha Anderson on the BBC medical drama Holby City and Heather Irvine on the BBC soap opera Doctors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Thorne</span> English screenwriter and playwright

Jack Thorne FRSL is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer.

Abigail Louise Morgan is a Welsh playwright and screenwriter known for her works for television, such as Sex Traffic and The Hour, and the films Brick Lane, The Iron Lady, Shame and Suffragette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Kirby</span> British actress (born 1988)

Vanessa Nuala Kirby is an English actress. She made her professional acting debut on stage, with acclaimed performances in the plays All My Sons (2010), A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010), Women Beware Women (2011), Three Sisters (2012), and as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (2014).

Céline Buckens is a Belgian-British actress. After appearing in the film War Horse (2011), she went on to play Mia MacDonald in the Netflix series Free Rein (2017–2019) and Sophie Mercer in the Cinemax series Warrior (2020). For her performance in the BBC drama Showtrial (2021), she was nominated for a British Academy Television Award and an International Emmy Award. She has also starred in the Paramount+ drama The Ex-Wife (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain De Caestecker</span> Scottish actor

Iain De Caestecker is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying Leopold Fitz/The Doctor in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020). He is also known for his roles in Coronation Street (2001–2003) as Adam Barlow and the films Shell (2012), In Fear (2013), Not Another Happy Ending (2013), Lost River (2014), and Overlord (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vagina Museum</span> Museum in London, UK

The Vagina Museum is the world's first brick and mortar museum about the female reproductive system. The project is based in the United Kingdom, and moved into its first fixed location in Camden Market, London, in October 2019. Its first exhibition opened on 16 November 2019. It moved to its second premises in Bethnal Green on 19 March 2022 and was open to the public until Wednesday, 1 February 2023. It reopened in its next long-term home in two railways arches in Bethnal Green on 4 November 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Hirst</span> English actress (b. 1994)

Georgia Octavia Hirst is an English actress. She is known for her roles as the maiden Torvi in the History series Vikings (2014–2020) and Becky in the zombie horror movie Ravers (2018).

<i>Showtrial</i> (TV series) Fictional British 2021 television series

Showtrial is a British legal drama television series created by Ben Richards and starring Tracy Ifeachor and Céline Buckens. The five-part first series aired on BBC One from October to November 2021 and starred Tracy Ifeachor and Céline Buckens. Two years later, it was announced that Showtrial had been developed into an anthology format and that a second series had been ordered, starring a new cast.

References

  1. ↑ "10. Queen Anora (Dragon Age) a review of Queen Anora Theirin". www.listal.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Dragon Age: Origins – Non-Playable Characters - Fereldan Nobles / Characters - TV Tropes". www.tvtropes.org. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Falling Apart - Where to Watch and Stream Online – Entertainment.ie". www.entertainment.ie.
  4. ↑ "Falling Apart ‹ Century Films". www.centuryfilmsltd.com.
  5. ↑ "Television Craft - New Director - Fiction in 2003". www.bafta.org.
  6. ↑ "2022 Television Supporting Actress". www.bafta.org.
  7. ↑ "Immy Waterhouse - Rain Stops Play short film by Mika Simmons". Tatler. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "Joanna Lumley Stars in Chemotherapy Drama 'My Week With Maisy'". www.variety.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  9. ↑ "Mika Simmons". www.huffingtonpost.co.uk. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ↑ "The Best Podcasts For Love, Dating, Sex And Relationships". Grazia. 14 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 "Prizes & Honours 2016: Youth Jury". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
    "Balcony" (PDF). International Filmfestspiele Berlin. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Remi winners" (PDF). FilmFestivals.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 "Rain Stops Play". FilmFreeway. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  14. ↑ "Princess Beatrice Gets Behind Fight Against Ovarian Cancer". NBC News. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  15. 1 2 "Mika Simmons: "Lights, Camera, Orgasm"". Vanity Fair . 5 January 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  16. ↑ "Rain Stops Play". FilmFreeway. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  17. ↑ "Mika Simmons". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  18. ↑ "Entertainment Dramatic look for ITV's Christmas offering". BBC. 24 November 1998.
  19. ↑ "Mika Simmons". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  20. ↑ "Period dramas win Baftas". BBC News . 12 May 2003. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "BAFTA Awards - Television Craft: New Director - Fiction in 2003" . Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  22. ↑ "BAFTA Awards - Television Craft: New Writer in 2003" . Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  23. ↑ Girivan, Andrew (19 August 2011). "Nominees Announced for 2011 Total Theatre Awards". Whats on Stage.
  24. ↑ "You Once Said Yes". British Council. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  25. ↑ "Man was stabbed to death in Kensington "after refusing to give money to youths"". Joe. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  26. 1 2 Magistretti, Bérénice. ""Lights, Camera, Orgasm": An Interview with Mika Simmons". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  27. ↑ "British Council Film: Balcony". transform.britishcouncil.org.br. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  28. ↑ "London Film Festival - Us Among The Stones". The Reviews Hub. 13 October 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  29. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (8 December 2020). "Us Among the Stones review – thoughtful Laurence Fox stars in heartfelt indie drama". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  30. ↑ "BBC Blogs - BBC Writersroom - Showtrial". 27 October 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  31. ↑ "Full cast announced for world premiere of Disruption at Park Theatre". www.theatre-news.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "Full Cast Announced for Disruption at Park Theatre". www.theatreweekly.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  33. ↑ "Review: Disruption, at Park Theatre". www.camdennewjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  34. ↑ "Disruption Reviews". www.westendtheatre.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  35. 1 2 Freeman, Hadley (18 April 2019). "Tara Fitzgerald: 'I didn't think I was very talented. I didn't have that fight'". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  36. ↑ "Hysterical - 2019". Underwire Festival. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  37. ↑ "2019 Report". Portobello Film Festival. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  38. ↑ "Discover new diverse filmmaking talent at Fragments Festival". Pact. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  39. ↑ "Home page". The Happy Vagina. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  40. ↑ Simmons, Mika (1 November 2020). "The lesson I learnt from my mum's death could save lives". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  41. ↑ Simmons, Mika (3 March 2020). "8 lessons I've learned from interviewing influential women about sex". Red Online. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  42. ↑ Anderson, Alana (19 August 2020). "Stars have joined forces to celebrate Gynaecological positivity and self-love". OK! Magazine. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  43. ↑ "Gynaecological Awareness Month: How To Have A Happy Vagina". Grazia. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  44. ↑ Chappet, Marie-Claire (3 August 2022). "Mika Simmons on the importance of Women's Health". Harpers Bazaar. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  45. ↑ "Women's health: Female patients to be asked about 'gender health gap'". BBC News. 6 March 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  46. ↑ "Board". Ginsburg Women's Health Board. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  47. ↑ "Founders". Lady Garden Foundation. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  48. ↑ Barcelona, El Periódico / (30 September 2017). "Naomi Campbell posa contra el cáncer ginecológico". elperiodico (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  49. ↑ "Mika Simmons". Lady Garden Foundation. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  50. ↑ "We love Topshop's new Lady Garden campaign fronted by Cara Delevingne | Living North". www.livingnorth.com. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  51. ↑ "Sarah Ferguson turns heads in stunning sheer black gown". HELLO!. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  52. ↑ "Princess Beatrice Gets Behind Fight Against Ovarian Cancer". MSNBC News. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2021. NBC News' Keir Simmons sits down with Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter, Beatrice and his sister, Mika Simmons to discuss their effort to educate women about the cancer dubbed "the silent killer".
  53. ↑ "A 'new era' for women with ovarian cancer". The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  54. ↑ Bystander. "6th Annual Lady Garden Foundation lunch at Fortnum and Mason". Tatler. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  55. ↑ "Find Your Shade. Find Your Power". www.lancome.co.uk. Lancôme UK. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  56. ↑ Lee, Helena (February 2021). "THE CAMPAIGNERS - Mika Simmons & Nimco Ali". Harper's Bazaar. pp. 120–121. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  57. ↑ "Joanna Lumley Stars in Chemotherapy Drama 'My Week With Maisy'". www.variety.com. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.