SIMON HAINES

Simon is an award-winning actor and filmmaker best known as Malendol in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Rod Reed in Murder Most Puzzling (PBS/5), Owen Michaels in Emmerdale, as well as TV & film for BBC, ITV, Netflix, and leading theatre roles in the West End and at the Dutch National Theatre. Coming soon: Edgar Wright's The Running Man (Paramount) and Ponies (Universal).

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Born in North Somerset to a single-parent benefits-class family, he studied English at Cambridge University, where he wrote/performed comedy with the Cambridge Footlights, and then trained as an actor for 3 years at Guildhall.

 

As a filmmaker, he has directed/written/produced several short films, winning awards and screening at festivals worldwide, including London’s Raindance Festival. His short Senior Consultant has just started its festival journey at BAFTA-qualifying LOCO (London Comedy Film Festival). Simon is proudly queer (bisexual) and neurodiverse (dyspraxic) and that intersectionality informs his filmmaking.​​

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Simon has been teaching since 2011. He teaches and directs at top drama schools and is a tutor at the National Film and Television School (NFTS). He coaches actors and directors privately, including for Hollywood movies and British television. ​​

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He is apprentice and mentee to ‘coach to the stars’ Adrienne Weiss, whose clients include Emmy-winners and Oscar-winners. Adrienne and Simon have worked together for a decade, and she is training him to take over her teaching in London. Simon is the only person in the UK certified to teach Adrienne’s world-renowned method for getting great performances from actors. Simon also consults for Professor Ken Rea, notably for The Outstanding Actor (Bloomsbury), a popular set textbook in drama schools worldwide.