Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor. Known as a character actor on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Olivier Award and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999. Callow rose to prominence originating the title role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1979 Peter Shaffer play Amadeus, for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. Callow joined the Miloš Forman 1984 film adaptation, this time portraying Emanuel Schikaneder. In 1992, Callow won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical for Carmen Jones. As an actor, he won acclaim for his comedic roles in A Room with a View (1985) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) earning a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination for each. Other notable roles include in Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004). His television roles include Tom Chance in the Channel 4 series Chance in a Million (1984) and The Duke of Sandringham in the series Outlander from 2014 to 2016. He portrayed Napoleon in The Man of Destiny (1981), and Charles Dickens in numerous television projects. He has also appeared on numerous shows such as Midsomer Murders, Rome, Angels in America, Doctor Who, Galavant, Hawkeye, and The Witcher. Callow was born on 15 June 1949 in Streatham, South London, the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman. His father was of French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry. His father left when Simon was 18 months old, and he was brought up by his mother and grandmothers. He and his mother travelled to Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) when he was nine to try and reconcile with his father. This did not happen and Callow was sent for three years to boarding school in South Africa. He and his mother returned to Britain when he was twelve. He was raised as a Catholic. Callow was a student at the London Oratory School in West Brompton, and then went on to study briefly at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he was active in the gay liberation movement.[5] He gave up his degree course after a year to take a three-year acting course at the Drama Centre London. He made his first film appearance in 1984 as Schikaneder in Amadeus. The following year, he appeared as the Reverend Mr Beebe in A Room with a View. His first television role was in the Carry On Laughing episode "Orgy and Bess" in 1975, but it was cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the Channel 4 situation comedy Chance in a Million, as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him to a wider audience. Callow portrayed Pliny the Elder in CBBC's 2007 children's drama series, Roman Mysteries in the episode "The Secrets of Vesuvius". He played Armand Duquesne in Marvel's Hawkeye on Disney+.
121 movies · 64 shows
The Man with the Plan
2026·0.0
Eternal Return
2026·6.0
Amadeus: The Making of a Masterpiece
2025·0.0
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
2024·4.5
Aguska
2024·0.0
It's Christmas!
2024·5.0
Alec Guinness: A Class Act
2024·6.0
Merchant Ivory
2024·7.7
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2
2024·5.8
Dodger Special: Coronation
2023·10.0
Murder Ballads: How to Make It in Rock 'n' Roll
2023·0.0
Doctor Jekyll
2023·4.6
Surprised by Oxford
2023·6.1
The Pay Day
2022·4.2
American: An Odyssey to 1947
2022·0.0
The Fringe, Fame and Me
2022·0.0
The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration
2022·8.0
Judi Dench: Our National Treasure
2022·8.0
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye
2022·7.2
The Amazing Mr. Blunden
2021·6.3
Alexander Pope: Rediscovering a Genius
2021·0.0
Nutcracker Delights: English National Ballet
2020·8.0
The Dead Room
2018·5.7
A Christmas Carol
2018·7.4
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
2018·7.1
Blue Iguana
2018·5.7
Born Silly
2017·0.0
Grindsploitation 3: Video Nasty
2017·4.7
The Man Who Invented Christmas
2017·6.8
Victoria & Abdul
2017·6.9
50 Years Legal
2017·6.0
Hampstead
2017·6.1
Viceroy's House
2017·6.7
Mindhorn
2016·6.1
There's Something About Romcoms
2016·6.0
Golden Years
2016·6.3
Creditors
2015·4.4
Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule
2014·7.5
The First Silent Night: The Christmas Carol That United the World
2014·0.0
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
2014·6.5
Miss in Her Teens
2014·3.0
The Sarah Millican Television Programme - Best of Series 1-2
2013·0.0
Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story
2012·4.6
Shakespeare's Sonnets
2012·0.0
Being Shakespeare
2012·0.0
Acts of Godfrey
2012·0.0
The British Guide to Showing Off
2011·6.6
Late Bloomers
2011·5.2
Love's Kitchen
2011·5.3
Art of Freedom
2011·9.2
Ice
2011·5.5
The Unforgettable Harry Secombe
2010·8.5
Save Our Bacon
2010·0.0
Orson Welles Over Europe
2009·7.0
Theatreland
2009·0.0
Maggie Smith at the BBC: a portrait
2008·7.7
Chemical Wedding
2008·4.2
Arn: The Knight Templar
2007·6.3
Surveillance 24/7
2007·3.9
How Gay Sex Changed the World
2007·4.0
Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask
2006·5.6
The Madness of Boy George
2006·2.7
Reviving Harry Lime
2006·0.0
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb
2006·5.1
Men of Mystery
2006·0.0
Ripley Under Ground
2005·5.6
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
2005·10.0
Revisiting Brideshead
2005·8.0
Rag Tale
2005·3.4
The Best Man
2005·5.4
The Civilization of Maxwell Bright
2005·4.5
Bob the Butler
2005·5.6
The Phantom of the Opera
2004·7.3
George and the Dragon
2004·5.5
Thank You, Doctor Rey
2003·5.5
Bright Young Things
2003·6.3
Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens
2002·0.0
The Mystery of Charles Dickens
2002·8.5
Thunderpants
2002·3.5
Christmas Carol: The Movie
2001·5.2
No Man's Land
2001·7.5
Deadly Appearances
2000·7.0
Around The World In 80 Days
2000·0.0
Animated Epics: Don Quixote
2000·0.0
Notting Hill
1999·7.3
Shakespeare in Love
1998·6.8
Bedrooms and Hallways
1998·6.1
The Scarlet Tunic
1998·5.1
The Woman In White
1997·6.6
Victory
1996·5.2
Moses
1996·6.0
James and the Giant Peach
1996·6.6
An Audience with Charles Dickens
1996·4.0
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
1995·6.3
Jefferson in Paris
1995·5.1
England, My England
1995·6.5
El pasajero clandestino
1995·5.0
Street Fighter
1994·4.7
Four Weddings and a Funeral
1994·6.8
Camp Christmas
1993·2.7
Femme Fatale
1993·8.0
Soft Top Hard Shoulder
1993·6.3
Howards End
1992·7.0
The Trials of Oz
1991·6.3
The Crucifer of Blood
1991·6.5
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
1990·6.1
Postcards from the Edge
1990·6.6
Old Flames
1990·0.0
Revolutionary Witness
1989·10.0
Manifesto
1988·4.0
The Reluctant Dragon
1987·7.0
Maurice
1987·7.6
Cariani and the Courtesans
1987·7.0
The Christmas Tree
1986·9.0
A Room with a View
1986·7.0
The Good Father
1985·5.6
Honour, Profit & Pleasure
1985·10.0
Royal Variety Performance 1984
1984·0.0
Amadeus
1984·8.0
The Man of Destiny
1981·0.0
Instant Enlightenment Including VAT
1979·4.5