Critically acclaimed actress Simone Vicari Moore was born on Salem Hill in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in a courtyard with no indoor plumbing, often barefoot, sometimes hungry—but always filled with stories. The granddaughter of Maroons and dreamers, she carries that ancestral fire into every role she plays.
Now based in the United States, Simone is a classically trained actress with a deep love for Shakespeare and the intimacy of independent film. She studied at UC San Diego’s prestigious MFA program under legends like Des McAnuff, Fiona Shaw, and Tina Landau, and refined her storytelling lens at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.
Simone has earned critical acclaim in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times for her work on stage, including a fierce Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a luminous Sylvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and a haunting Queen Gertrude in Hamlet. Her one-woman show The Divorce Comedy: A Spiritual Study, which she wrote, directed, and starred in, premiered at REDCAT’s NOW Festival in 2020.
On screen, she’s appeared opposite Oscar-nominee Quvenzhané Wallis in Apple TV+’s Swagger, and opposite Oscar-nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste in CBS’s Without a Trace. Other credits include Boston Legal, Cold Case, Random Acts of Flyness, Law & Order: Organized Crime, and indie films such as The Prospects, ARC, and Dreams Are Colder Than Death with artist Arthur Jafa.
Simone is also a soulful singer, painter working with fine paints, and designer with a passion for sustainable living. She speaks English, Jamaican Patois, and French—and approaches her work with the same reverence she gives to earth, language, and memory.
She invites you to feel something real. And leave changed.
Résumé
Television
Route 187: Renee: Mark E. Swinton, dir., Tyler Perry Studios, BET+
Law and Order: Organized Crime, dir. Alex Hall, NBC Universal
Swagger S2: Dr. McCalla, Nijla Mu'min, dir.
Random Acts of Flyness: Coretta Scott King: HBO, Terence Nance
Lauren: Recurring: WIGSCO, Jon Avnet
Cold Case: Recurring: CBS, Alex Zakrzewski, dir.
Mrs. Washington Goes To Smith: Starring Role: ABC, Armand Mastroianni
Canned: Guest Star: Gary Halvorson
Without A Trace: Guest Star: CBS, Martha Mitchell, dir.
Boston Legal: Guest Star: ABC, Steve Robin, dir.
All Of Us: Co-Star: CW, Alfonso Ribeiro, dir.
Franklin and Bash: TNT, John Landis, dir.
Film
Girl in the Closet: Lifetime
Dreams Are Colder Than Death: Arthur Jafa, Khalil Joseph
The Prospects: Lead: David Brundige
Belly 2: Millionaire Boyz Club: Featured: Ivan Frank, dir.
Notorious: Featured: George Tillman Jr.
Arc: Lead: Rob Gunnerson, dir.
Theatre
Macbeth: Lady Macbeth: Ben Donenberg, Shakespeare Center The Divorce Comedy: One-woman show: REDCAT, LA
Gunshot Medley: Betty: dir. Desean Terry, Rogue Machine, LA
Hamlet: Gertrude: Claire Kelly, Shakes on Sound, NYC
In The Footprint: Tish James: Steve Cosson, The Civilians, NYC
Beauty: Madeleine: Tina Landau, La Jolla Playhouse
Huck and Holden: Michelle: Claudia Weill, Black Dahlia Theatre
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Helena: Ben Donenberg, Shakespeare Center
Two Gentlemen of Verona: Sylvia: Ben Donenberg, Shakespeare Center
Sex and Work: Dumbolu: Rick Pagano, Lillian Theatre, LA
Treat Yourself Like Cary Grant: Hallie, Rick Pagano, Lillian Theatre, LA
Fools In Love: Woman: Odyssey Theatre, LA
Ain’t Supposed to Die…:Tomboy: Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYC
Macbeth: Lady MacDuff: Classical Theatre of Harlem, NYC
Home: Patty Mae: Woodie King Jr., NYC
A Kwanzaa Tale: Woman: Henry Street Settlement, NYC
Training
MFA, University of California San Diego, Theatre and Dance Program, BA, cum laude
La Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France
Acting: Diane Venora, Tony Greco, Kyle Donnelly
On-Camera Technique: Eric Kline, Lisa Robertson Studio
Shakespeare: Lisa Harrow (RSC), Jim Winkler, Des McAnuff
Improv: Second City
Singing: Linda Vickerman (UCSD), Reggie Segaris (NYC), Lissie Moitiere (Paris)
Dance: Rex Nettleford (Jamaica), Jackie Guy, Patsy Ricketts, Jean Isaacs (Performances in France and West Indies)
Specialities: Singer: Soprano, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Tai Chi, Stage Combat, Dance-Hall Reggae, Afro-Caribbean Dance, Yoga. Dialects: many accents, conversational French, Jamaican Patois, African dialects. Stylist, Decorator, Art Teacher
Reviews
In The Footprint
“Donnetta Lavinia Grays burns with righteous indignation as Bertha Lewis, a community leader who staunchly supported the project, delivering a fiery tirade against the “gentrifiers” who oppose it. She is the temperamental opposite of Simone Moore’s Brooklyn city councilwoman, Tish James, who fights the plan with an air of reasoned, implacable rectitude.”
Two Gentlemen of Verona
“As Julia and Silvia, Cheryl Tsai and Raina Simone Moore represent women united in the struggle for equal rights for all, with Tsai as a flowers-in-her-hair type who is at once idealistic and resolute, Moore as someone with the strength to carry the world on her statuesque, model-perfect shoulders.”
— Daryl H Miller for the LA Times
“Simone Moore is a strong Silvia - her go-go boots speak of a "talk to the hand" attitude and she is completely believable when she not only rejects Proteus's advances but tells him he should be ashamed for even trying.
— Sharon Perlmutter for Talkin’ Broadway
"Simone Moore's Silvia could pass as a go-go dancer at the Whiskey."
— Bondo Wyszpolski for Easy Reader
Midsummer Night’s Dream
"Star-crossed lovers, played to the comedic hilt by…the amazing Simone Moore who comes up with a distinctive Eve Arden-inspired deadpan delivery for her Helena."
— Travis Michael Holder for Entertainment Today
“As Helena, Simone Moore stands by pining for Demetrius”
Arc
“It's his co-star Simone Moore who steals the show though. Playing Maya Gibbs, a prostitute not so much with a heart of gold as a head full of William James, she is witty, honest, and the real soul of the piece.”
— Shadowlocked LA
“Equally impressive is the debut of Simone Moore, who brings refreshing earthiness and wit to what could have been a stock character. Simone Moore is immensely attractive and engaging as girl who naively wants to make it big as a high class call girl, there are several heavies and they are all realistic.”
Sex & Work
“Also outstanding is Moore, who has a strong stage presence."
“…and Caribbean beauty Madeline (Simone Moore), who attempts to bring some integrity into Rico’s life. Moore is endearing as the woman who believes her love will change Rico."
Fools In Love
"My favorite was a black beauty named Simone Moore. This young woman has poise, timing, sexual, and social appeal. I can't help but think, one day I'll be at the movies, leaning into my 1054 date, saying, "Hey, I saw her when she was in Evelyn Duboff's play"
— PEN Fiction
Huck and Holden
"Please don't approach this sharp, engaging romantic comedy as an academic exercise. The spirited young cast certainly doesn't in the Black Dahlia Theatre's accomplished and thoroughly enjoyable staging of Joseph's cross-cultural odyssey about a visiting engineering student from Calcutta who finds more than he bargained for when he enters a college library in search of the books. Amid the precarious stacks of books that compose Craig Siebels' set, the very traditional Navin (played with pitch-perfect nerdiness by Kunal Nayyar) meets student librarian Michele ( Simone Moore), a pretty, outgoing voice major who takes an immediate liking to him."
Let’s Work Together
Bret Adams, Ltd | Artists’ Agency
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Paradigm Talent Agency
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Jennifer York
DPN Talent Agency
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