Hannah Simone (born 3 August 1980) is a British-Canadian actress from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people who garnered fam ...

, and former VJ and fashion model. She portrayed Cece Parikh on the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

sitcom ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zo ...

''.

Early life

Simone was born in

to a

British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest Ethnic groups in the United Kingdo ...

father and a British mother of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, and

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming almost 99% of the 737,196 Cypri ...

descent. She has a brother named Zack. Simone spent her early childhood in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. From ages 7–10, Simone moved through three continents, attending schools in each one. At the age of 13, Simone was living in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and was working as a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model. Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone ...

. At 16 years old, Simone lived in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

where she attended the American Embassy School. A year later, at 17, she returned to Canada. Initially settling in

White Rock, British Columbia White Rock is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It is bordered by Semiahmoo Bay to the south and is surrounded on three sides by Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey. To the south ...

, she subsequently relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

where she attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. After her first degree, she returned to

, for a year, where she worked as a human rights and refugees officer for the United Nations.

Career

Following her 2005 graduation from

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

, Simone became host of HGTV Canada's television show ''Space for Living'' for its first season. Simone worked at

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

as a VJ at MuchMusic Headquarters, as a

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

for "Much News Weekly" and, the host of the show ''

The NewMusic ''The NewMusic'' was a weekly Canadian music and culture television newsmagazine. Created by John Martin, and intended to combine the spirit of magazines like ''Rolling Stone'' and ''New Musical Express'' with the format of a television newsmag ...

''. From May 2006 to November 2008, she worked as a VJ for

. She interviewed artists and bands during her time at Much. She then stated that she had plans to move to Los Angeles, California. Simone hosted '' WCG Ultimate Gamer'' alongside Joel Gourdin on Syfy. The series premiered on 10 March 2009 and ended after its second season on 7 October 2010. From 2011 to 2018, Simone appeared in Fox's comedy ''

''. Alongside

Kate Upton Katherine Elizabeth Upton (born June 10, 1992) is an American model and actress. She first appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and was the List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue c ...

and Génesis Rodríguez, she was featured in Gillette's "What Women Want" campaign in 2013. In 2014, she starred alongside

Danny Trejo Danny Trejo (, ; born May 16, 1944) is an American actor. Known for his Danny Trejo filmography, large body of work as a character actor, films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $3.7 billion worldwide. A native of Los Angeles, Tr ...

Train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

's music video " Angel in Blue Jeans". In 2016, she starred in music video "Same Air" from

The Rocket Summer The Rocket Summer is the solo project of Bryce Avary, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. He has released eight studio albums and several EPs. His fifth release, 2012's '' Lif ...

. In 2017, she hosted the reality competition television series '' Kicking & Screaming''. On 12 February 2018, Simone was announced as the lead in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's reboot of ''

The Greatest American Hero ''The Greatest American Hero'' is an American comedy-drama superhero television series that aired on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour pilot movie on March 18, 1981, and ran until February 2, 1983. The seri ...

''; however, ABC declined to pick up the series. She began cohosting ''Welcome to Our Show'', a ''New Girl'' rewatch podcast with co-stars

Lamorne Morris Lamorne Lionel Morris (born August 14, 1983) is an American actor and comedian. He has played the roles of Winston Bishop in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), Daniel in '' Call Me Kat'', Darrin Morris in the National Geographic docu ...

and

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel ( ; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She made her film debut in ''Mumford (film), Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known f ...

, distributed by

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

, in January 2022.

Personal life

In 2016, after dating for nearly four years, Simone married musician Jesse Giddings; like Simone, he is also a former VJ at

. Simone announced her pregnancy in April 2017, and she gave birth to their son in early August 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other media

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Hannah 1980 births 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century English actresses Actors from the London Borough of Hounslow Actresses from Calgary Actresses from London Actresses from Vancouver British expatriate actresses in the United States British emigrants to Canada British people of German descent British people of Greek Cypriot descent British people of Indian descent British people of Italian descent Canadian actresses of Indian descent Canadian people of German descent Canadian people of Greek Cypriot descent Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian expatriates in England Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Canadian expatriates in Cyprus Canadian expatriate actresses in India Canadian video jockeys Canadian women television hosts Female models from British Columbia Living people Much (TV channel) personalities People from Hounslow People from White Rock, British Columbia Toronto Metropolitan University alumni University of British Columbia alumni