Simone Kessell was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Her mother is Māori and her father is of European descent. Simone has built a remarkable career in film and television, working with many acclaimed actors and directors from around the world.
Simone can currently be seen in Disney's OBI-WAN KENOBI opposite Ewan McGregor. In this highly anticipated series, she plays "Breha Organa" mother to Princess Leia as a child. Prior to, she was seen in a recurring role on Taika Watiti's 'Our Flag Means Death' for HBO. Other impressive US streaming/television credits include series regular roles on ‘Reckoning', Sony Television for Netflix, ‘The Crossing' ABC /Disney, ‘Of Kings and Prophets' playing Queen Ahinoam to Ray Winston's King Saul. In this epic period drama, Simone was singled out in both the New York Times and Washington Post for her ‘extraordinary performance'. Simone's other television credits include starring in the Steven Spielberg-produced series, ‘Terra Nova' playing the formidable Lt. Washington and recurring/guest roles - ‘Criminal Minds', ‘Fringe', ‘CSI', ‘Reaper'. Amongst her credits in Australia and New Zealand Simone has played lead roles in ‘Pine Gap' for Netflix, ‘Wonderland', ‘Fat Tony & Co', ‘Panic at Rock Island', ‘Underbelly II', ‘White Collar Blue', ‘And Hard Knox', to name but a few, as well as guest roles (when first starting as a young actress in New Zealand) on Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, Mataku – The God Child and playing the lead role opposite Mathew Rhys in the mini-series Greenstone.
The New Zealand feature film Muruin which Simone stars alongside Cliff Curtis will premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Other film credits include Andreas, 2:22, The Lovers, Burning Man, The Informers. Notably, Simone wowed audiences in the outlaw biker thriller 1% - OUTLAWSfor A24 which premiered at TIFF 2018 . Simone received an Australian AACTANomination (Aussie Oscars) for Best Supporting Actress 2018 for her ‘Powerhouse performance' Film ink.
