Simon Mario Kassianides is an English actor, film director, producer and screenwriter.

Simon Kassianides
Kassianides in 2012
Born
Simon Mario Kassianides

Occupation
  • Actor
Years active2004–present

Early life

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Kassianides was born in London, of Greek Cypriot origin, the son of Helen and Mario Kassianides, both business owners. Kassianides has an older brother, Photis Kassianides, who works in finance.

Kassianides was brought up in Clapham and educated at Dulwich College. At the University of Edinburgh he was the producer and executive producer of a sold out run of Grease at the George Square theatre. Profits were donated to the Macmillan Cancer Support.[citation needed]

Career

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In 2002, soon after Kassianides graduated with honours in International Business with Finance and while in London helping his mother open Urban Coffee,[1][2] a fair trade and organic coffee shop in Tooting Broadway, he was spotted by BAFTA award-winning producer Piers Vellacott.[citation needed]

Kassianides started a course at London's Central School of Speech and Drama but had to leave after being offered a role in the Tennessee Williams' play Night of the Iguana. His performance as Pedro was acclaimed by critics.[3]

Soon after, Kassianides was noted as an actor to watch in a BBC documentary called Making it at Holby.[citation needed]

Since then, Kassianides has appeared in a number of television episodes in the USA and UK, including Casualty, My Life in Film, Plane Spotting, Ultimate Force, Spooks, Recovery, Holby Blue, Suburban Shootout, The Kylie Show, Ashes to Ashes, The Passion, The Fixer, Love Soup, Hustle, Law and Order UK, Nikita, Burn Notice, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Kassianides has also appeared in several international films such as The Edge of Love, Wuthering Heights, Between Two Fires, Quantum of Solace and Smooch.

In 2010, Kassianides produced, directed and starred in Geezas, a film he completed in record time and within budget.[4] The film made the official selection of the 2012 Hollywood Film Festival,[5] selling out The Arclight Movie Theatre in Hollywood at its premiere. In 2012, Simon Kassianides was nominated as a Discovery Director to watch at the Hollywood Film Festival[clarification needed] for Geezas,[citation needed] which won "Best Actor" and "Best Supporting Actress" at the 2013 British Independent Film Festival. Kassianides directed first time actors who won against the likes of Martin Freeman (The Hobbit) and Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy).[6]

His work rate and ethic was spotted by the administrators of the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation[7]—created by Michael Cacoyannis, director of Zorba the Greek, to help and promote Greek artists—and was appointed a Global Consultant and Representative of the Foundation in 2012.

Appearances

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 Casualty Steve Lyon
2005 Ultimate Force Juan
2006 Spooks Mourad
2007 Holby Blue Nico Osman
2008 The Fixer Saban Zira
2008 The Edge of Love Partisan
2008 Quantum of Solace Yusef Kabira
2009 Hustle Tracer
2010 Between Two Fires Ali
2011 Smooch Percy / Flynn
2011, 2013 Nikita Ramon
2011 Geezas Eddie
2012 Burn Notice George Anders
2013 Desert Dancer Sattar
2014 How to Train Your Dragon 2 No-Name Voice
2014–2015, 2017 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sunil Bakshi
2015 Zoo Jean-Michel Lion
2015 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Soldiers / Extras[8]
2017 Unforgettable Michael
2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Jeffrey Khan
2018 Assassin's Creed Odyssey Stentor Also voices Hades in the DLC
2019 Cliffs of Freedom Gregory[9]
2019 Pearson Nick D'Amato Main Cast
2019 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs Arthur Voice
2020, 2023 The Mandalorian Axe Woves 4 episodes

References

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  1. ^ "notfortourists.com – Just another WordPress site".
  2. ^ "THE 10 BEST Restaurants in London - Updated August 2021 - Tripadvisor". www.tripadvisor.com.
  3. ^ "Drama Queen- This Month's Theatre".
  4. ^ "Geezas The Movie". Archived from the original on 22 January 2012.
  5. ^ "2012 Hollywood Film Festival Features Selection".
  6. ^ "Winners of the British Independent Film Festival 2013 Announced!". www.britflicks.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013.
  7. ^ "The Michael Cacoyannis Foundation". Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  8. ^ Konami (2015). Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Scene: Closing credits, 0:32 in, Cast.
  9. ^ "Cliffs of Freedom Cast and Crew". mubi. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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