John Ronald Simm was born on 10 July 1970 in Leeds, the eldest of three children. His father, Ronald, was a musician from Manchester. From the age of 12, Simm sang and played guitar with his father on stage in the working men's clubs.[citation needed] He grew up in Lancashire in numerous places around northwest England, including Blackpool, Burnley, Colne, Manchester, and Nelson. He attended Edge End High School in Nelson, where he was inspired by his drama teacher Brian Wellock. In 1986, he enrolled at Blackpool and The Fylde College in Blackpool for three years, and starred in Guys and Dolls and West Side Story at Blackpool's Grand Theatre. However, he soon decided that musical theatre did not interest him, so he joined an amateur dramatic group and honed his skills in his spare time, playing the title roles in Billy Liar and Amadeus. He then moved to London at the age of 19 to train at the Drama Centre London, where he studied Stanislavski's system of method acting. His acting teacher was Reuven Adiv, whom he credits as a major influence on his life. He graduated in 1992.[citation needed]
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Simm was a founding member, songwriter, and guitarist with the rock band Magic Alex; the band was named after "Magic Alex" Mardas, a Greek electronics engineer best known for his work with the Beatles. The group played support on two British tours with Echo & the Bunnymen. Simm plays guitar on the album Slideling by his friend, Echo & the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch. He also played lead guitar on a few of McCulloch's solo live shows, including one at Wembley Arena as the main support to Coldplay. Magic Alex released one album, Dated and Sexist, before splitting in 2005.
Simm made his professional acting debut in 1992 with the role of Joby Johnson in an episode of the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey (there had been an earlier part in the BBC drama Between the Lines where Simm was in one scene as PC Witty, but the scene was cut). There then followed a variety of roles during which time he honed his craft in front of the camera, including a psycho in The Bill, as lovestruck schoolboy Richard Francis in Heartbeat, and a drugged-up burglar in The Locksmith. He also made two series of the BBC sitcom Men of the World, playing the lead role of Kendle Bains. His next project saw him take the role of Gary Kingston, a deluded murderer, in Chiller.

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