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All you need to know about Friday Night Dinner star Simon Bird

Simon is best known for his comedy roles

friday night dinner simon bird
Francesca Shillcock
Senior Features Writer
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If, like us, you're loving the brand new sixth series of Friday Night Dinner on Channel 4, then you'll know of the actor Simon Bird who plays Adam, the elder son in the Goodman family. As well as his current role, Simon is equally well-known for his part in hugely successful The Inbetweeners franchise, which ran for three series from 2008 until 2011 and even created two films after its huge success. Simon has also taken part in other work such as theatre and stand-up comedy. Here's all we know about the actor…

simon bird actor© Photo: Getty Images

Simon is known for his comedy work

Simon Bird bio

Simon, 35, was born and bred in Surrey into an academic family – with both his parents having successful careers as professors. The actor went on to read English at Cambridge before going on to study cultural and critical studies at Birkbeck, University of London. While at Cambridge, Simon's classmate was fellow actor and Inbetweeners co-star Joe Thomas, where they joined (with Simon as president) Footlights – the esteemed and well-known theatre group whose previous alumni boasts Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie.

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the inbetweeners© Photo: Rex

Simon's breakout role was The Inbetweeners

Simon Bird's career

After studying, Simon, alongside Joe, went on to pursue comedy and acting, performing stand-up shows and productions at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2008, the actor was then cast as awkward and nerdy teenager Will Mackenzie in E4's The Inbetweeners – a role for which he won Best Actor at the British Comedy Awards and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Awards.

MORE: All you need to know about Friday Night Dinner star Mark Heap

friday night dinner© Photo: Channel 4

He's currently starring in Friday Night Dinner

Since The Inbetweeners, Simon has gone on to star in other shows such as Chickens on Sky One as well as Friday Night Dinner which began in 2011. He has also starred in films such as The Harry Hill Movie and You, Me and Him, alongside former Death in Paradise star Ben Miller.

Simon Bird: Friday Night Dinner

As of March 2020, Simon has been on our screens reprising his role as Adam Goodman in Friday Night Dinner. He has starred in the series alongside Tamsin Greig (Belgravia, Episodes), Paul Ritter (Chernobyl, Belgravia), Tom Rosenthal (Plebs) and Mark Heap (Green Wing) since the show began in 2011.

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