Simon Kassianides
Kassianides in 2012
Born	Simon Mario Kassianides London,England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present

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

Kassianides was born inLondon, 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 inClapham and educated atDulwich College. At theUniversity of Edinburgh he was the producer and executive producer of a sold out run ofGrease at theGeorge Square theatre. Profits were donated to theMacmillan Cancer Support.^{[citation needed]}

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 inTooting Broadway, he was spotted byBAFTA award-winning producer Piers Vellacott.^{[citation needed]}

Kassianides started a course at London'sCentral School of Speech and Drama but had to leave after being offered a role in theTennessee Williams' playNight 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 calledMaking it at Holby.^{[citation needed]}

Since then, Kassianides has appeared in a number of television episodes in the USA and UK, includingCasualty,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, andAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Kassianides has also appeared in several international films such asThe Edge of Love,Wuthering Heights,Between Two Fires,Quantum of Solace andSmooch.

In 2010, Kassianides produced, directed and starred inGeezas, 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 wasnominated as a Discovery Director to watch at the Hollywood Film Festival^{[clarification needed]} forGeezas,^{[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) andAnne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy).^[6]

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

• Simon Kassianides atIMDb

• English male television actors
• Living people
• English people of Greek Cypriot descent
• English male film actors
• 1979 births
• Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth
• People educated at Dulwich College
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
• Male actors from London
• 21st-century English male actors
• People from Clapham

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from December 2016
• Use British English from March 2012
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021
• Wikipedia articles needing clarification from April 2023