Michael Simkins trained at RADA. He has appeared in more than 70 plays in rep, and stage highlights include A View from the Bridge at the National Theatre, as well as musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless TV appearances - recent credits include Foyle's War and My Family - as well as turns on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He has worked with luminaries as diverse as Anthony Perkins, John Malkovich, Michael Gambon and Buster Merryfield. He lives in London with his actress wife Julia.
'Funny, engaging, perceptive and hugely entertaining', Stephen Fry, .'Screamingly funny - set to become a classic', Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday .'Michael writes about disaster, humiliation, rejection and ridicule - the hilarious truth', Nicholas Hytner, .'A real page-turner and a genuinely funny and honest book about the actor's life', Michael Billington, Guardian .'Daring, brutal, hilariously candid, Simkins unravels his own profession to show the exhilaration, masochism and madness underneath', Julie Myerson, .'Casts an objective eye on the crazy world of the actor with an accuracy that is both chilling and charming', Mike Leigh, .'You read the wonderful Michael Simkins with a mixture of horror and delight ... will hold good for as long as people go on taking the undignified risk of dressing up and pretending to be other people', David Hare,