Matteo Simoni

Matteo Simoni, born in 1987, is that guy in Belgium everyone’s talking about lately. He’s not just some random actor—he’s been everywhere: TV, movies, theater, you name it. The dude’s basically a chameleon, diving into all sorts of roles and pulling them off like it’s nothing. People started really noticing him after he played ‘Smos’ in Safety First, a comedy series that took over Belgian TV for a couple years. Then he totally switched gears and nailed the part of ‘Rocco Granata’ in MARINA, a biopic directed by Stijn Coninx, who, by the way, has Oscar cred. Matteo even learned Italian for that one—talk about commitment. That performance got him a Best Actor nod at the Ensors, which is kind of a big deal over there. He’s not slowing down either. Callboys? Another massive hit—like, it basically hijacked Belgian living rooms every week, thanks to director Jan Eelen’s wild vision. And yes, people are still waiting for that next season. Then there’s Gangsta, where Matteo took the lead, working with Adil el Arbi and Bilal Fallah—those guys are on fire, especially after Black and landing Bad Boys 3. And get this: the international crowd is noticing too. Berlinale called him a Shooting Star in 2018, which is just fancy talk for “this guy’s about to blow up Europe.” Coming up, he’s got projects like Cold Courage, The Racer with Kieron J. Walsh, and Rookie, which’ll be Lieven van Baelen’s first feature flick. Basically, if you haven’t seen him yet, you probably will soon.