Hannah Simone (born 3 August 1980) is a British-Canadian actress,

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

, and former VJ and fashion model. She is known for portraying Cece on the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

sitcom ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...

''.

Early life

Simone was born in London to an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

father and an English mother of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, and

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 r ...

descent. She has a brother named Zack. Simone spent her early childhood in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. From ages 7–10, Simone moved through three continents, attending schools in each one. At the age of 13, Simone was living in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and was working as a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

. At 16 years old, Simone lived in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

where she attended the American Embassy School. A year later, at 17, she returned to Canada. Initially settling in

White Rock, British Columbia White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It borders Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey. To the southeast acr ...

, she subsequently relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

where she attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. After her first degree, she returned to

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

, United Kingdom for a year, where she worked as a human rights and refugees officer for the United Nations.

Career

Following her 2005 graduation from The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Simone became host of

HGTV Canada HGTV is a Canadian English-language Category A cable and satellite specialty channel owned as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment (which serves as managing partner and owns 80.24% majority control through licensee HGTV Canada, Inc.) ...

's television show ''Space for Living'' for its first season. Simone worked at

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

as a VJ at MuchMusic Headquarters, as a

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for "Much News Weekly" and, the host of the show ''

The NewMusic ''The NewMusic'' was a weekly music and culture television newsmagazine that aired on the Canadian television stations owned by CHUM Limited: MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, Citytv, A-Channel and CP24. Created by John Martin, and intended to combine ...

''. From May 2006 to November 2008, she worked as a VJ for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She related well to youth interested in alternative artists and interviewed many artists and bands during her time at Much. Simone stopped working at MuchMusic on 21 November 2008, stating that she had plans to move to Los Angeles, California. Simone earned a role hosting ''

WCG Ultimate Gamer ''WCG Ultimate Gamer'' was a reality television program that aired on Syfy, sponsored by Samsung and the World Cyber Games (WCG). The show was hosted by Hannah Simone and co-hosted by Joel Gourdin. The first season began airing on March 10, 2009. ...

'' alongside Joel Gourdin on

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

. The series premiered on 10 March 2009 and ended after its second season on 7 October 2010. From 2011 to 2018, Simone was on Fox's comedy ''

'', where she played Cece, the best friend to title character Jess (

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film '' Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for h ...

). Alongside

Kate Upton Katherine Elizabeth Upton (born June 10, 1992) is an American model. She first appeared in the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and was the cover model for the 2012, 2013 and 2017 issues. In addition, she was the subject of the 1 ...

and Génesis Rodríguez, she was featured in Gillette's "What Women Want" campaign in 2013. In 2014, she starred alongside

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo ( ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. He has appeared in films including ''Desperado'', ''Heat'', and the ''From Dusk Till Dawn'' film series. With frequent collaborator and his second cousin Robert Rodriguez, he portrayed ...

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

's music video "

Angel in Blue Jeans "Angel in Blue Jeans" is a song recorded by American rock band Train for their seventh studio album '' Bulletproof Picasso''. The song was written by Pat Monahan, Amund Bjørklund, and Espen Lind, and was produced by the latter two as well as Butc ...

". In 2016, she starred in music video "Same Air" from

The Rocket Summer The Rocket Summer is the solo-project of Bryce Avary, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. He writes and produces every song on his records, and plays every instrument on them. H ...

. In 2017, she hosted the reality competition television series '' Kicking & Screaming''. On 12 February 2018, Simone was announced as the lead in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's reboot of ''

The Greatest American Hero ''The Greatest American Hero'' is an American comedy-drama superhero television series that aired on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour pilot movie on March 18, 1981, and ran until February 2, 1983. The seri ...

''; however, ABC declined to pick up the series. She began cohosting ''Welcome to Our Show'', a ''New Girl'' rewatch podcast with co-stars

Lamorne Morris Lamorne Morris (born August 14, 1983) is an American actor, comedian and television personality. He is known for roles such as Winston Bishop in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011-2018), Darrin Morris in the National Geographic docudrama ''Vall ...

and

, distributed by IHeartRadio, in January 2022.

Personal life

In 2016, after dating for nearly four years, Simone married musician Jesse Giddings. Simone announced her pregnancy in April 2017, and she gave birth to their son in early August 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other media

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Hannah 1980 births Living people Actresses from London Actresses from Vancouver Female models from British Columbia People from White Rock, British Columbia British people of Indian descent Canadian people of German descent Canadian people of Greek Cypriot descent Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian actresses of Indian descent Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Canadian expatriates in Cyprus Canadian expatriate actresses in India English emigrants to Canada English people of German descent English people of Greek Cypriot descent English people of Indian descent English people of Italian descent Much (TV channel) personalities Toronto Metropolitan University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Canadian VJs (media personalities) Canadian women television personalities 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century English actresses Canadian expatriates in England