Simon Gareth Burke AO[1] (born 8 October 1961) is an Australian actor, active in films, television and theatre.

Simon Burke began his career at the age of 12, starring in Michael Cove's Kookaburra (1974); a painful look at a dysfunctional working-class family, focusing particularly on an almost autistic young boy.

[citation needed] In 2014, Burke starred in Matchbox Pictures/NBC-Universal's highly acclaimed miniseries Devil's Playground in which he reprised the role of Tom Allen that he created as a 13-year-old.

He starred as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium alongside Connie Fisher and then Summer Strallen.

[citation needed] On 10 September 2015, at the Queens Birthday Honours ceremony presided over by the Governor of New South Wales, General David Hurley, Burke was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) with the following citation: For distinguished service to the performing arts as an actor, singer and producer, and through senior advocacy roles for performers' rights and access to professional development and education programs.