Ron Simons is an American actor and producer, and a four-time

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

winner.

Career

Simons has degrees in theater and computer science from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and didn't go to drama school until he was 39. He also received a degree from Columbia Business School. He had wanted to go into acting since high school, but was unable to due to his living circumstances. " the only member of my family to have graduated college with retired grandparents and a mom who had me at a slightly older age, I felt the need to become the family breadwinner." He finally quit corporate business to enter film business at the age of 47. He further expanded into producing despite not being fully aware of what that position entailed. He would end up producing films such as '' Gun Hill Road'' and ''

Blue Caprice ''Blue Caprice'' is a 2013 American independent drama film directed by Alexandre Moors, and based on the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks. The film stars Isaiah Washington and Tequan Richmond as the perpetrators of the attacks, John Allen Muhammad and Le ...

'', but continue to act in projects along the way. In 2009 he founded SimonSays Entertainment; a production company that works to create film, television and stage productions that revolve around various minority focused subjects from race, LGBT, disabled, women and elder people. In April 2022, he was named the commencement speaker for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. He is a 2018 recipient of Columbia College's John Jay Award.

Filmography

Selected filmography (as producer)

* ''

Night Catches Us ''Night Catches Us'' is a 2010 drama film directed and written by Tanya Hamilton and stars Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce and Novella Nelson. Plot In 1976, former Black Panther Marcus (Anthony Mackie) returns to hi ...

'' (2010) * '' Gun Hill Road'' (2011) * ''

'' (2013)

References

External links

* * Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male film actors American male television actors Place of birth missing (living people) Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Business School alumni {{US-actor-stub