Profile Text
McBurney in 2015, photo by kathclick /Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Simon Montagu McBurney
Place of Birth: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 25 August, 1957
Ethnicity: English, Scottish, Irish/Anglo-Irish
Simon McBurney is a British actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He founded, and is artistic director of, the Théâtre de Complicité, London. His roles include the films Kafka (1991), Being Human (1994), Mesmer , Eisenstein (2000), Bright Young Things , The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Friends with Money , The Last King of Scotland , The Golden Compass , The Duchess , Body of Lies , Robin Hood (2010), Jane Eyre , Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), For Those Who Can Tell No Tales , Magic in the Moonlight , The Theory of Everything (2014), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , The Conjuring 2 , Allied , The Mercy (2018), Siberia , Wolfwalkers (2020), The Pale Blue Eye , A Mistake , and Nosferatu (2024); the shows The Vicar of Dibley , Rev. , The Borgias , Utopia , The Casual Vacancy , The Loudest Voice , Carnival Row , and Hijack ; and many stage performances.
He is the son of Anne Francis Edmondstone (Charles) and Charles McBurney (Charles Brian Montagu McBurney). His father was an American archaeologist and academic, born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, who spent most of his life in England. His mother was English, from Fareham, Hampshire, and was a secretary. His parents met during WWII. His brother is composer, arranger, broadcaster, teacher, and writer Gerard McBurney. Simon’s parents were second cousins.
Simon is married to concert pianist Cassandra “Cassie” Yukawa, with whom he has two children. Cassie is of Japanese and English descent. Cassie’s sister is solo violinist and composer Diana Yukawa.
Simon’s paternal grandfather was Henry McBurney (the son of Charles Heber McBurney and Margaret Willoughby Weston). Henry was born in New York. Simon’s great-grandfather Charles McBurney was a prominent surgeon, who described McBurney’s point in appendicitis. He led the medical team that oversaw President William McKinley’s initial recovery after his shooting in 1901. He was the son of Charles McBurney and Rosine Horton. Simon’s great-grandmother Margaret was the daughter of Frederic Weston and Elizabeth B. Hart.
Simon’s paternal grandmother was Dorothy Lillian/Lilian Rundall (the daughter of Frank Montagu Rundall and Emily Rosa Bickersteth). Dorothy was born in India. Frank was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, the son of Francis Hornblow Rundall, who was born in Madras, India; and of Fanny Ada Seton-Burn, who was born in Thun, Switzerland. Emily was born in Banningham, Norfolk, England, the daughter of Edward Henry Bickersteth and Rosa Bignold.
Simon’s maternal grandfather was Frank Rundall/Rundell/Randall Stuart Charles (the son of Thomas Edmondston/Edmonstone Stuart Charles and Ada Henrietta Rundall). Frank was born in Calcutta, Bengal, India. Ada was born in Dowleswaram, India, the daughter of Francis Hornblow Rundall and Fanny Ada Seton-Burn.
Simon’s maternal grandmother was Isabella Annie/Anne Meredith (the daughter of Richard Edmund Meredith and Annie Pollock). Isabella was born in Dublin, Ireland. Richard was born in Dublin, the son of William Rice Meredith and Isabella Agnes Standish, who herself was born in Kinsale, County Cork.
Source: https://anthony.sogang.ac.kr