Bio
Simon Bruinders is a South African actor, author, voice artist and playwright with an extensive resumé in theatre, film and television.
Born in the small suburb of Pacaltsdorp, George, he later moved to Kinross near Secunda and lived in Cape Town for a few years before relocating to Johannesburg in 2003.
Originally a school teacher, his passion was the stage and in the early 1980s he landed a lead role in the Jan Rautenbach play Broer Matie, playing the role of a preacher, Kiemie Kammies.
The play was turned into a feature film of the same name, which marked Simon's film debut when it was released in 1984.
Simon has since appeared in numerous films including Two Weeks in Paradise, Halfmanspunt, People Like Us, 'n Hondelewe, Vaselinetjie and Draadloos.
Simon is a published author and playwright, as well as a documentary maker.
He is the father of actor Alvin Bruinders.
Early television series he acted in include Reccie, the CCV-TV comedy Going Up, the recurring role of Amos in the second season of the iconic Afrikaans drama series Ballade vir 'n Enkeling, and a guest starring role in Soutmansland, on SABC2.
He also presented a Boeremusiek competition with Ollie Viljoen in 1994.
In addition, Simon played the role of Mr Malgas in the South Africa/Canada co-production Molo Fish! (known in Canada as Ekhaya: A Family Chronicle), for which he received an Avanti Award nomination.
The series premiered on SABC1 on 11 February, 1997 and ran for 13 episodes.
He was a continuity presenter on NNTV (which later became SABC3) for a number of years. He was also an anchor on the SABC2 actuality shows Spektrum and Agri Forum.
Simon had a recurring role as Glen in the SABC2 police procedural series Zero Tolerance, making his first appearance in the role in Season 1, Episode 2, which aired on 8 January, 2004.
A few months later he played the guest starring role of Lester Thomas in an episode of the e.tv crime procedural Jozi Streets.
He also had roles in the soapies Egoli: Place of Gold on M-Net (2005-2006) and Scandal! on e.tv, in 2007.
In 2014 he had a recurring role as Mr January in the SABC2 drama series Swartwater and he later had a guest starring role on the kykNET soapie Getroud Met Rugby: Die Sepie, making his first appearance in Season 2, Episode 186 (which aired on 18 December, 2017).
He was a celebrity guest on the series premiere of the kykNET cooking series Kampkos in April 2015; and appeared as himself in the 2018 documentary series Oppi Kassie, which aired on kykNET.
In 2018 he played the role of Arnold Langley on the SABC2 soapie 7de Laan and the following year he joined the kykNET show Met 'n Huppel in die Stap as a field presenter, starting with the Season 5 premiere on 2 January, 2019.
In the same year he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs), for his services to the television industry.
In 2021 he was a voice actor in the Afrikaans dub of the Turkish telenovela Kiralik Ask which aired on eExtra under the title As Die Skoen Pas.
Simon had a guest starring role in an episode of the BET telenovela Isono which aired on 3 August, 2021 (Season 1, Episode 177).
In the same month he appeared in the streaming service eVOD's digital web series Is'phindiselo.
In 2022 he had a starring role as former food and beverage manager Alvin Adonis, who finds himself in a retirement home with others he doesn't get along with, in the SABC2 sitcom Ou Toppies.
The series premiered on 8 February, 2022.