Philip
Simon
Philip Simon
(1992-1997)
attended theGuildford School
of Acting before becoming an
actor and comedian. He looks
back at his career so far
few years ago I revisited MTS
and was chuffed to see a photo in the
drama studio of me in the school play
‘The Roses of Eyam’ from about 1996.
Man, I looked young!
When I left MTS, I knew exactly what I
wanted to do withmy life. I had been acting
in youth theatres and school plays since I was
12 and had evenmanaged to fit in a couple
of professional TV& commercial jobs during
my time at school. Having taken a gap
year I completed an ActingDegree at The
Guildford School of Acting, graduating from
there in 2001.
I had a fabulous time at GSA and left
after three years with an all round training
in acting, singing and dancing...yes, even
ballet! Since then I’ve been fortunate enough
to have worked inmost media, and though
there’s a lot of down-time between jobs, I
havemostlymanaged to stay busy either
acting, doing voiceovers, teaching, working in
offices, writing and anything else that affords
me the flexibility to do an acting audition or
job as it comes up.
Acting-wise, I have done a number of high
profile commercials, which are always fun
tomake. I have been the face of Heathrow
Airport for a couple of years, and it’s always
lovely to hear frompeople who have
passed through the terminals and seenmy
over-sized face towering over them. Other
highlights would bemy first theatre job in
a production of TheWinslowBoy starring
Edward Fox and the late SimonWard (his
son-in-lawwas former MTS pupil, comedian
Michael McIntyre), small TV roles including
the BBC’s ‘My Family’ and then inmore
recent years I toured the UK and received
myWest End debut playingDaddy Pig in
A
children’s hit Peppa Pig’s Party. This was a
fantastic experience that tookme all over
the UK and Ireland, playing almost 500
performances in 80 venues. In other work I
have played a character called ‘stunned nerd’
receiving a lap dance froma stripper in a
vampire feature film (tough day at the office)
and even embraced the concept of full-frontal
nudity in Channel 4’s epic adaptation of
WilliamBoyd’s ‘AnyHumanHeart’.
Around all this I have takenmy
experiences as an actor and written regular
features for industry newspaper ‘The Stage’,
as well as other publications in print and
online. I also created a theatre-related website
that listed plays and playwrights, providing
supplementary information for actors,
students, directors, theatregoers, etc. A few
years ago this was bought out by another
theatre website
) and I
now also work for themconsulting about all
things theatre-related.
Then in 2011 my life took a bit of a turn as
I entered the world of stand-up comedy. It’s
odd starting afresh after such a long time, but
after years of resisting everyone’s insistence
that I try, I only wish I’d started earlier. Now,
two years and well over 200 gigs in I have
started building a really nice place for myself
on the comedy circuit. Last year I won the
Comedy Cafe’s NewAct night for the 2nd
time and also placed well in a number of high
profile competitions. Acting is still mymain
focus, but stand-up comedy is a huge part of
my professional life.
I think back to my time at MTS and I
realise how lucky I was to attend a school
so open to the idea that life wasn’t all about
academia and rugby. I excelled at neither
and having teachers (both at my previous
school Orley Farm andMTS) nurture my
creative streak made a huge difference in
my life. Having largely failedmy Common
Entrance exams, it was the open-minded
generosity of then Headmaster Jon Gabitass
who grantedme entrance to the school,
accepting that MTS could be a place
where creative endeavours could be just
as celebrated, endorsed by inspirational
teachers like John Coleman.
Sure, I don’t (yet) have a house in the
HollywoodHills, and I can’t (yet) get into
The Ivy without having to book three
generations in advance, but I’ve followed
my dreams, crashed through some hurdles
along the way, and can honestly say there’s
no greater feeling than having control of your
own life, andmaking a room full of strangers
laugh with jokes that you’ve written.
For more information:
Follow Philip on Twitter: @PhilipSimon78
Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
