Simon Burke

Simon Burke is an Australian actor whose work spans film, television, stage, concert appearances and cabaret. He started acting at 12 in Michael Cove's Kookaburra (1974), then at 13 starred in Fred Schepisi's The Devil's Playground (1977), winning the AFI Award for Best Actor and becoming the youngest recipient of that honor. He later appeared in many productions in Australia and the UK, including The Sound of Music, in which he played Captain Georg von Trapp at the London Palladium, and Mary Poppins as Mr Banks. In 2014 he starred in the miniseries Devil's Playground, reprising Tom Allen, and was a co-creator and executive producer; it won AACTA and Logie awards. He presented Play School from 1988 to 2007, again in 2013 and 2020, was federal president of Actors Equity Australia from 2004 to 2014, and in 2015 became an Officer of the Order of Australia.