Sir Simon Russell Beale CBE (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his performances in film, television and theatre. He's received numerous accolades including two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awards, and a Tony Award. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019. Beale has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation".
Beale started his acting career at the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. He has received ten Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning three awards for his performances in Volpone (1996), Candide (2000), and Uncle Vanya (2003). For his work on the Broadway stage he has received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his performance as George in the Tom Stoppard play Jumpers in 2004. For his role as Henry Lehman in The Lehman Trilogy, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and was nominated for an Olivier Award.
Beale made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama Orlando (1992). He gained prominence for his roles in Persuasion (1995), Hamlet (1996), My Week with Marilyn (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Benediction (2021), and The Outfit (2022). In 2017, he portrayed Lavrentiy Beria in Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin for which he received the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He has also appeared in the television projects The Young Visiters (2003), Dunkirk (2004), and Vanity Fair (2018). He earned two British Academy Television Awards one for Best Actor for A Dance to the Music of Time (1998), and the other for Best Supporting Actor for Henry IV, Part I and Part II (2012). From 2014 to 2016, he was part of the main cast of Showtime's Penny Dreadful.
Early years
Beale was born on 12 January 1961, one of six children of Captain, later Lieutenant General, Sir Peter Beale and his wife Julia née Winter. He was born in Penang, Malaya, where his father was serving in the Army Medical Services. His father later, from 1991 to 1994, served as Surgeon-General of HM Armed Forces. Several other members of Beale's family have pursued successful careers in medicine.
Beale was first drawn to performance when, at the age of eight, he became a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral and a pupil at the adjoining St Paul's Cathedral School. His secondary education was undertaken at the independent Clifton College in Bristol.
His first stage performance was as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream at primary school. In the sixth form at Clifton he also performed in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a play in which he would later star at the National Theatre.
After Clifton, he went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and obtained a first in English, after which he was offered a place to undertake a PhD. He pursued further studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1983.
Career
