Hannah Simone

2.1. Background and Childhood

Hannah Simone was born in London, England, on August 3, 1980. Her family background is diverse: her father is British Indian, and her mother is British with German, Italian, and Greek Cypriot ancestry. She has a brother named Zack. Simone spent her early childhood in Calgary, Canada. Between the ages of seven and ten, she experienced a nomadic childhood, moving across three continents and attending schools in each. By the age of 13, while living in Cyprus, Simone began working as a fashion model. At 16, she resided in New Delhi, India, where she attended the American Embassy School, New Delhi. A year later, at 17, she returned to Canada, initially settling in White Rock, British Columbia, before relocating to Vancouver.

2.2. Education and Early Endeavors

Simone pursued her higher education at the University of British Columbia. Following the completion of her first degree, she spent a year in London, during which she worked as a human rights and refugee officer for the United Nations. This early professional experience highlights her commitment to global issues and humanitarian causes before her entry into the entertainment industry. She later graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2005.

3.1. Television Host and VJ

After graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2005, Simone embarked on her television career, becoming the host of HGTV Canada's show Space for Living for its inaugural season. She then joined MuchMusic, a prominent Canadian music television channel, where she worked as a VJ at the network's headquarters. Her roles at MuchMusic included serving as a news presenter for Much News Weekly and hosting the show The NewMusic. From May 2006 to November 2008, she extensively interviewed various artists and bands as a MuchMusic VJ. Simone later announced her plans to move to Los Angeles, California, to further her career. From March 2009 to October 2010, she co-hosted WCG Ultimate Gamer alongside Joel Gourdin on Syfy, a reality competition series that ran for two seasons. In 2017, she returned to hosting, leading the reality competition television series Kicking & Screaming.

3.2. Acting Career

Simone's most prominent acting role came between 2011 and 2018, when she starred as Cece Parekh in the popular Fox sitcom New Girl. Her portrayal of the character, a close friend and roommate, earned her widespread recognition and a Teen Choice Awards nomination for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Female. Beyond New Girl, Simone appeared in various other television series and films. Notable television appearances include guest roles in Kevin Hill (2005), Kojak (2005), Beautiful People (2006), 1600 Penn (2013) as Princess Abigail of Andorra, and H+: The Digital Series (2012), a web series. She also served as a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance in 2013 and appeared in Hot Package that same year. Later, she took on roles in Single Parents (2018), Weird City (2019), The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience (2019), and the television movie Awokened (2019). From 2020 to 2022, she voiced the character Pinky in the animated series Mira, Royal Detective. In 2021, she starred in the TV movie Welcome to Georgia and from 2023 to 2024, she was a main cast member in Not Dead Yet.
In February 2018, Simone was announced as the lead for ABC's reboot of The Greatest American Hero. However, the network ultimately decided not to pick up the series.

3.3. Other Ventures

Beyond her acting and hosting endeavors, Hannah Simone has expanded her presence into other media. In 2013, she was featured in Gillette's "What Women Want" advertising campaign, appearing alongside Kate Upton and Génesis Rodríguez. She also made notable appearances in music videos, starring as the title character in Train's "Angel in Blue Jeans" in 2014, a video that also featured Danny Trejo. In 2016, she appeared in The Rocket Summer's music video for "Same Air." More recently, in January 2022, Simone began co-hosting Welcome to Our Show, a New Girl rewatch podcast, with her former co-stars Lamorne Morris and Zooey Deschanel. This podcast is distributed by iHeartRadio.

4.1. Marriage and Family

In 2016, after a courtship of nearly four years, Hannah Simone married musician Jesse Giddings. Like Simone, Giddings also has a background as a former VJ at MuchMusic. In April 2017, Simone announced that she was pregnant, and she subsequently gave birth to their son in early August 2017.

5.1. Film

5.2. Television

5.3. Other Media