Simon Burke

Simon Gareth Burke (born 8 October 1961) is an Australian actor, active in films, television and theatre. Biography Simon Burke began his career at the age of 12, starring in Michael Cove's Kookaburra (1974); a painful look at a dysfunctional working-class family, focusing particularly on an almost autistic young boy. Soon after at the age of 13, Burke starred in Fred Schepisi's acclaimed feature film The Devil's Playground for which he won the AFI Award for Best Actor at the Australian Film Institute Awards. He remains the youngest person ever to be honoured with this award. Since then he has enjoyed great success both in Australia and internationally in film, television, stage, concert appearances and cabaret. In 2014, Burke starred in Matchbox Pictures/NBC-Universal's highly acclaimed miniseries Devil’s Playground in which he reprised the role of Tom Allen that he created as a 13-year-old. He was the co-creator and executive producer of the project, and in the same year it won both the AACTA and Logie Award for Most Outstanding Telefeature or Miniseries. He has since starred in numerous film, television and theatre productions in Australia and the UK. He starred as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium alongside Connie Fisher and then Summer Strallen. He also played the role of Mr Banks in Mary Poppins in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland.