Mika Simmons is a British actress and film-maker who is known for playing Queen Anora on Dragon Age,^[1][2] the BAFTA winning Falling Apart,^[3][4][5] and BBC Showtrial,^[6] and the award winning Rain Stops Play and My Week With Maisy.^[7][8]

Simmons is also a campaigner for women's health. In 2013, she started a charity Lady Garden Foundation, which aims to raise awareness of gynaecological cancers and fund research into treatments.^[9] She interviews experts and survivors about their experiences with women's health on her podcast The Happy Vagina.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Early life

Simmons was born in Greenwich, London. Her brother is journalist Keir Simmons.^[14] Aged six, her family moved to Somerset where she attended Wellsway Comprehensive school and joined Bristol Youth Theatre. She then attended University of Leeds to study theatre, graduating with a BA in English Literature and Theatre Studies.^[15] Following graduation, Simmons moved to London to train as an actress at the Drama Studio London.^[16]

Career

In 1998, Simmons was cast in the role of "Prudence" in ITV's Frenchman's Creek, a TV film based on the novel of the same name.^[17][18] In 2002, she appeared in Channel 4's TV movie, Falling Apart, a period drama, about domestic violence in a middle-class relationship in Britain.^{[19][20][21][22]} In 2011, Simmons played in the play, You Once Said Yes, which won both the Fringe First and Total Theatre awards.^[23][24]

Simmons has appeared in the ITV drama, Unforgotten.^[25][26] In 2016, she appeared in Film London's short Balcony.^[27][15] The film went on to win a Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.^[11] In 2019 she played a part in Us Among the Stones, directed by D.R. (Dictynna) Hood.^[28][29] In 2020, she appeared in the BBC drama Showtrial.^[30] In 2023, Simmons played Jill in Disruption at Off West End Park Theatre alongside Nathaniel Curtis.^{[31][32][33][34]}

In 2019, Simmons wrote and directed her first short film, Rain Stops Play, a comedy short about sex and the sexes, featuring Tara Fitzgerald and produced by Jackie Green and Roberta Moore.^[35] It won the Silver Remi for Best Comedy Short at the Houston Film Festival.^[12][13] The film has been shown at Underwire Festival^[36] and Portobello Film Festival^[37] and premiered at Fragments Festival, Genesis Cinema, London.^[38]

In 2020, Simmons started The Happy Vagina platform "dedicated to opening up the conversation around women's experience and gynaecological health"^[39][26] and her podcast, in which she discusses sex and intimacy with well-known women.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Simmons' first book The Happy Vagina was published on 4 August 2022.^[44]

Activism

Simmons is co-founder and co-chair of the Ginsburg Women's Health Board, working with government towards closing the gender health gap.^[45][46]

Simmons is one of the six women who in 2013 co-founded the Lady Garden Foundation, a charity which raises awareness and funding for gynaecological health.^[47][48][49] The charity has been supported by Topshop,^[50] Sarah, Duchess of York,^[51] and Princess Beatrice.^[52] It has raised over £1,000,000 since 2014 to assist research at the Royal Marsden Hospital into treatments including the use of Olaparib, led by Susana Banerjee who inspired Simmons to start the foundation.^[53][54]

In 2017, Simmons was chosen as one of 40 women to front Lancôme's campaign with the strapline "My power is acting" and a brief profile.^[55] In 2021, Simmons was chosen as one of five Harper's Bazaar visionaries for the year.^[56]

Awards

Simmons' directorial debut, 'Rain Stops Play', won the Silver Remi for best comedy at Houston World Film Festival.^[35][13][11]

In 2021 Simmons won Best international Director at Portland Film Festival.^[57]

References

External links

• Mika Simmons at IMDb