Jeremy Sims

Jeremy Sims was born in Perth, Western Australia on 10 January 1966,^[6] and was educated at Wesley College^[7] from 1977 to 1983.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, Sims was studying at University of Western Australia (UWA).^[8] He graduated in 1990 from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney, with a degree in Performing Arts (Acting).^[1]

Sims' first appearance on the big screen was a minor part in the 1980 movie Harlequin.^[9] He is however, remembered by many for his role as Alex Taylor in the risqué television soap opera Chances from 1991 to 1992, in which he was cast the year after graduating from NIDA.^[10] He was nominated for a Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent for the role in 1992.^[11]

Sims has starred in several films, including playing Mick, opposite Ben Mendelsohn's Kev in 1996 crime film Idiot Box.^[12][13] It was his first lead role in a feature film,^[10] and saw him nominated for Best Actor at both the Australian Film Institute Awards^[14] and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.^[15] Other film credits include 2003 film Liquid Bridge with Ryan Kwanten,^[16] 2003 Ned Kelly satire Ned,^[17] 2009 drama The Waiting City with Radha Mitchell, 2015 romantic drama Ruben Guthrie with Patrick Brammall,^[18] 2017 adventure comedy A Few Less Men^[19] and 2018 quirky comedy drama Swinging Safari, opposite Guy Pearce and Kylie Minogue.^[20]

Sims' television appearances include the 1997 made-for-television film Kangaroo Palace, which earned him an Australian Film Institute Award nomination for AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama.^[21][14] In 1999, he appeared in Aftershocks, a mockumentary TV movie about the 1989 Newcastle earthquake. He won an Australian Film Institute Award and was nominated for a Logie Award for his portrayal of John Constable.^[22][23] That same year he featured in the miniseries Day of the Roses,^[9] based on the Granville rail disaster and the TV movie Secret Men's Business alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Baker and Marcus Graham. In 2001, he played Tony Dunne MP in the satirical miniseries Corridors of Power.^[17] In 2004, he starred in Fireflies as Tim 'Backa' Burke.^[17] He had recurring roles in Home and Away in 2009 as David ‘Gardy’ Gardiner^[17] and Wild Boys in 2011 as Francis Fuller.^[17] He starred in the 2009 TV film In Her Skin with Guy Pearce.^[9] He has also had numerous guest roles in series including Police Rescue^[9] Wildside,^[17] Medivac,^[24] Farscape,^[17] Young Lions, Stingers,^[17] The Secret Life of Us,^[17] McLeod's Daughters.^[25] and the Underbelly franchise.^[26]

Sims is also a director, with no less than five feature films credits to his name. He directed and produced 2006 thriller Last Train to Freo, which received three Australian Film Institute Award nominations.^[27] In 2010, his second feature, the war drama Beneath Hill 60 was nominated for 12 AFI Awards, five Inside Film Awards, and eight Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, including for Best Director and Best Film. He won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival.^[27]

In 2014, Sims directed, produced and co-wrote the film adaptation of Last Cab to Darwin, based on the 2003 play of the same name. Starring Michael Caton and Jacki Weaver, it received numerous AACTA Awards nominations.^[27] including Best Director and won the AACTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was selected for Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.^[28] In 2018, he wrote and directed the feature documentary Wayne (about motorsport champion Wayne Gardner) which was selected for Melbourne International Film Festival that year.^[28][8] He also directed 2020 film Rams, starring Sam Neill, Michael Caton, and Miranda Richardson, which was met with international acclaim.^[27]

His director credits for television include 2021 six-part Amazon Prime miniseries Back to the Rafters (spin-off and sequel to long-running drama series Packed to the Rafters) and eight-part medical rescue series RFDS from 2021 to 2023,^[27] in which he also appeared. He has also directed episodes of Doctor Doctor, A Place to Call Home, Rescue: Special Ops^[28] and Home and Away.^[29]

Sims is also developing several projects, including six part series Bluebird (produced by his company Pork Chop Productions) and the drama series Fight or Flight – The Woman who Cracked the Anxiety Code, a drama series, based on a best selling biography by Judith Hoare.^[28]

Sims has also acted in and directed stage productions at Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir and Melbourne Theatre Company, as well as overseas at Trafalgar Studios in London and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.^[28] In 1995, together with then girlfriend Kym Wilson, Sims formed the theatrical production company 'Pork Chop Productions'.^[5][30][10] Pork Chop has toured many shows nationally since that time and won a Drover's Award in 2005 for their production of the play, Last Cab to Darwin.^[31] His stage acting credits include Philip Seymour Hoffman's production of Riflemind, and the Edinburgh Festival / Royal National Theatre Company production of The Secret River.^[28]

Sims continues to act in selected projects, including the final season of comedy crime drama series Mr Inbetween in 2021.^[28] In February 2025, he was announced as part of the cast for the second season of historical heist drama series The Artful Dodger.^[32]

Sims was engaged to fellow Australian actor and director Kym Wilson in the early 1990s. They were set to be married in 1994, but the wedding was postponed when Wilson accepted a recurring guest role in television series The Man from Snowy River.^[63]

Sims' first daughter, China was born in 2000.^[3] He married film director Samantha Lang in 2004, with whom he had two daughters, Frederique^[3] and Evelyn. They were divorced in 2011.^[4]

Sims married academic, Dr. Tania Leimbach in Kangaroo Valley in 2015^[2] and together they have a son, Leroy.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2005, Sims was found unconscious in a Kings Cross alley in Sydney, and blamed it on exhaustion.^[3]