Biography

Christopher Crawford Gatsinzi Simpson (born 1975) is an Irish actor. He played Karim in the film adaptation of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane.

Simpson was born in Dublin, Ireland. His father is Irish and his mother was of Greek-Rwandan descent. His father met his mother in Rwanda whilst training to be a teacher. When Simpson was a child he visited Rwanda with his mother. His mother's first language was Kinyarwanda.

Simpson lived in Dublin until he was six years old. After his parents divorced, he moved to London with his mother and his sister, Fiona, where he has lived ever since.

When Simpson was at primary school, he began attending drama classes on Thursday evenings with an amateur dramatics club.

Simpson has often been cast in South Asian roles, although his heritage is mixed European and African.

In 2002, he played twins, Magid and Millat, in White Teeth. In 2003, he starred in Second Generation, and appeared in State of Play.

In 2003, Simpson played a supporting role in Code 46.In 2004, he played the role of Hassan Sabbah in The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam. In 2005, he appeared in Chromophobia. In 2006, he played a supporting role in Mischief Night. In 2007, he played the lead role of Karim in the film adaptation of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane, and a supporting role in Exitz.

Simpson had one week to learn the part of Karim for Brick Lane.

In 2008, Simpson was a British Independent Film Awards jury member.

In 2006, Simpson played the role of Dionysus in Conall Morrison's The Bacchae of Baghdad (an updated version of Euripides's play The Bacchae) at the Abbey Theatre.

In 2011, he played the role of Maz in John Donnelly's The Knowledge, and the role of Parvez in Steve Waters' Little Platoons, both at the Bush Theatre.

In 2016, he played the role of Sebastian in Bryony Lavery's adaptation of Brideshead Revisited at the English Touring Theatre and UK National Tour.