Simon Callow

77 years old Streatham, London, England, UK

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.

Callow rose to prominence originating the title role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1979 Peter Shaffer play Amadeus, for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. Callow joined the Miloš Forman 1984 film adaptation, this time portraying Emanuel Schikaneder. In 1992, Callow won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical for Carmen Jones. As an actor, he won acclaim for his comedic roles in A Room with a View (1985) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) earning a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination for each. Other notable roles include in Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).

His television roles include Tom Chance in the Channel 4 series Chance in a Million (1984) and The Duke of Sandringham in the series Outlander from 2014 to 2016. He portrayed Napoleon in The Man of Destiny (1981), and Charles Dickens in numerous television projects. He has also appeared on numerous shows such as Midsomer Murders, Rome, Angels in America, Doctor Who, Galavant, Hawkeye, and The Witcher.

Callow was born on 15 June 1949 in Streatham, South London, the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman. His father was of French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry. His father left when Simon was 18 months old, and he was brought up by his mother and grandmothers. He and his mother travelled to Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) when he was nine to try and reconcile with his father. This did not happen and Callow was sent for three years to boarding school in South Africa. He and his mother returned to Britain when he was twelve. He was raised as a Catholic. Callow was a student at the London Oratory School in West Brompton, and then went on to study briefly at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he was active in the gay liberation movement.[5] He gave up his degree course after a year to take a three-year acting course at the Drama Centre London.

He made his first film appearance in 1984 as Schikaneder in Amadeus. The following year, he appeared as the Reverend Mr Beebe in A Room with a View. His first television role was in the Carry On Laughing episode "Orgy and Bess" in 1975, but it was cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the Channel 4 situation comedy Chance in a Million, as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him to a wider audience. Callow portrayed Pliny the Elder in CBBC's 2007 children's drama series, Roman Mysteries in the episode "The Secrets of Vesuvius". He played Armand Duquesne in Marvel's Hawkeye on Disney+.

Recent movies

# Name Character Rating
1 Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024) Cavendish 6.5
2 Surprised by Oxford (2023) Dr. Sterling -
3 Doctor Jekyll (2023) Journalist -
4 Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye (2022) - 7.5
5 The Amazing Mr. Blunden (2021) Mr. Blunden 7
6 Blue Iguana (2018) Uncle Martin 5.5
7 The Dead Room (2018) Aubrey Judd -
8 They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018) Self 6
9 Hampstead (2017) Judge 6
10 Victoria & Abdul (2017) Mr. Puccini 6.5
11 Viceroy's House (2017) Cyril Radcliffe 6.8
12 The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) Leech 5.7
13 Mindhorn (2016) Himself 7
14 Golden Years (2016) Royston 6
15 Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014) Self - Actor and Welles' Biographer -
16 Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule (2014) Narrator (voice) -
17 Late Bloomers (2011) Richard -
18 The British Guide to Showing Off (2011) Self 3
19 Ice (2011) Prime Minister 5.5
20 Love's Kitchen (2011) Guy Witherspoon 2
21 Arn: The Knight Templar (2007) Father Henry 6.9
22 Bob the Butler (2005) Mr. Butler 6
23 Ripley Under Ground (2005) Dean Bentliffe -
24 The Best Man (2005) Big-Time Publisher 6
25 George and the Dragon (2004) King Edgar 6
26 The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Oscars 2005 		Andre 7.3
27 Bright Young Things (2003) King of Anatolia -
28 Thunderpants (2002) Sir John Osgood 3
29 Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) Charles Dickens / Ebenezer Scrooge (voice) -
30 No Man's Land (2001)
Oscars 2002 		Colonel Soft 7.6
31 Notting Hill (1999)
Recently popular movies 		Simon Callow (uncredited) 7.1
32 Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Oscars 1999 		Tilney 6.8
33 Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) Keith 5.5
34 The Woman In White (1997) Count Fosco -
35 James and the Giant Peach (1996) Grasshopper (voice) 6.9
36 Jefferson in Paris (1995) Richard Cosway -
37 Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) Vincent Cadby 6.6
38 Street Fighter (1994) A. N. Official 4.9
39 Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Gareth 6.5
40 Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1993) Eddie Cherdowski 6
41 Howards End (1992) Music and Meaning Lecturer (uncredited) 7
42 Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) Dr. Alex Sauer 3
43 Postcards from the Edge (1990) Simon Asquith 7.5
44 Manifesto (1988) Police Chief Hunt 10
45 Maurice (1987) Mr. Ducie 7.7
46 A Room with a View (1986) The Reverend Mr. Beebe 6.3
47 Amadeus (1984) Emanuel Schikaneder 8.1