Simon Jones

SIMON JONES made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's THE REAL THING and has since appeared in BENEFACTORS, THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, GETTING MARRIED, PRIVATE LIVES, THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND w/ HAMLET, THE HERBAL BED, RING ROUND THE MOON, and WAITING IN THE WINGS. Most recently, he appeared at the Shubert Theatre in BLITHE SPIRIT, while his voice was heard in the Broadway, off-Broadway, and touring production of 39 STEPS.

In 2001 he produced and starred in the World premier of Noel Coward's forgotten 1947 comedy, LONG ISLAND SOUND, (now published by Samuel French) and directed the American premier of Coward's musical, PACIFIC 1860. Other off-Broadway appearances include WOMAN IN MIND, TERRA NOVA, PRIVATES ON PARADE, YOU NEVER CAN TELL, Peter Nichols' PASSION PLAY, HOME, PHALLACY, and many 'Musicals in Mufti', at the York Theatre, where he also directs.

In late 2007, he went to Minneapolis, MN, where he appeared at the Guthrie Theater, in the lead role of 'Christopher Gore' in the American premier of Brian Friel's latest play, THE HOME PLACE. In November, 2008, he returned to play C.S. Lewis in SHADOWLANDS, again directed by Joe Dowling at the Guthrie.

Among Simon's film credits are PRIVATES ON PARADE, Monty Python's THE MEANING OF LIFE, BRAZIL, TWELVE MONKEYS, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (the remake).THE DEVIL'S OWN, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX, and the forthcoming SPECTROPIA.

On television, some of his more recent appearances include OZ for HBO, CAMBRIDGE SPIES for the BBC, and his portrayal of C.S.Lewis in THE QUESTION OF GOD for PBS. Nonetheless he is still best remembered as 'Bridey' in BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (the mini-series!!) and 'Arthur Dent' in THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (on radio and TV).

He was heard once again as 'Arthur Dent' in a new series, LIFE, THE UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the Fall of 2004 (twenty-two years after the previous series was recorded -- when he was a child). In 2005 he recorded the final two series (aka the QUANDARY and the QUINTESSENTIAL Phases) in London, and they completed airing in the summer. They are now available in CD packages.

In April, 2009, BBC Radio 2 aired a 6-part series starring Simon as SEXTON BLAKE, DETECTIVE!. The shows were then released commercially as a CD. 2010 found Simon playing the role of 'Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly' in T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party", which brought him rave reviews -- especially from Terry Teachout, in the Wall Street Journal, who said: "Mr. Jones is the star of the show, and I can't imagine anyone topping his quizzically urbane performance (except, perhaps, Alec Guinness.)" This was an off-Broadway production at the Beckett Theatre in New York, staged by TACT. He was scheduled to do another TACT show, Vaclev Havel's "The Memorandum", which was interrupted by an accident, in which Simon and his son, Tim, were knocked down by car on October 8th. Due to his injuries, Simon had to pull out of the show. Fortunately, he was offered a sedentary role, shortly after, by the Irish Repertory Theatre, so spent the holiday season performing in New York City, singing and performed in the Dylan Thomas classic, "A Child's Christmas in Wales". He moved on from there, in February, to rehearse a new play (of which he had done three workshops) by noted journalist Michael Kramer, directed by Michael Wilson. Entitled "Divine Rivalry", this four-man play is based on an actual event that happened in Italy back in 1504 -- between Michangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Soderini, the life-long appointed head of government for Florence. It opened March 4th, 2011, at the Hartford Stage, in Connecticut, to an advance review from The Hartford Courant, which has already called it "Brilliant". With heavy backing from the Shubert Organization, this show has all the marks of being headed to Broadway in late fall of this year. Next, Simon will be going back to the New York's Roundabout Theatre, to appear in a new musical version of the classic "Death Takes A Holiday", with a book by Peter Stone and Tom Meehan, with music & lyrics by Maury Yeston, scheduled to open in June, 2011. Ongoing, he is co-artistic director of TACT - The Actors Company Theatre (www.tactnyc.org), and is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Audio Theatre Festivals.

His extensive work as narrator of audio books has resulted in admission to the rank of 'Golden Voice' by AudioFile Magazine. He was also named as 'Narrator of the Year' (2005) by Publishers Weekly. In 2006, his audio recordings were nominated for nine 'Audie' awards -- and two of them won -- in the 'Unabridged Fiction' category, and the top prize 'Audio Book of the Year', which went to HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY -- TERTIARY PHASE.

Simon now has an official website:

www.simonjonesinfo.com