Simon Prast

Simon Prast recalls having a "wonderful childhood" in the Auckland suburb of Mount Roskill, close to the Manukau Harbour. After studying law, he graduated from Auckland’s Theatre Corporate drama school in 1984.

Alongside a busy stage career, Prast was soon winning a national profile thanks to one of his earliest screen roles — as Alistair Redfern, the spoilt rich kid on hit soap Gloss. Prast's character endured a tumultuous marriage to the bitchy Gemma (Miranda Harcourt), and began showing hints of maturity in the show’s third and final season. Prast praises the show's "very smart writing" — he still gets recognised for Gloss to this day.

He was also part of the cast of pioneering film A Death in the Family (1986), which he discusses early in this video interview. Based around a group of friends caring for a victim of AIDS in his final days, and directed by Peter Wells and Stewart Main, the 48 minute drama won acclaim in New Zealand and overseas.

Prast also guested on police show Mortimer’s Patch and played lawyer Richard McGrane in miniseries Erebus: The Aftermath. In the 1990s, he made roughly 40 appearances as Paul Churchill, the "psychotic" Director of Nursing on Shortland Street; he also had small roles in Letter to Blanchy and the Xena/Hercules franchise.

His biggest screen role that decade was in 1998 romantic drama When Love Comes, Garth Maxwell's second feature.  Prast played best friend to Rena Owen’s singer character, recently back in New Zealand after many years overseas. Both characters are at a personal crossroads.

When Love Comes director Maxwell searched widely before deciding Prast "was really the only one" to play Stephen. Added producer Jonathan Dowling: "Stephen's characteristic trait in the film is that of the listener, which is difficult to pull off. An actor whose role is to listen sympathetically to others while actually having quite a number of issues to deal with himself, is not easy." The movie was later retitled When Love Comes Along in the United States.

Although Prast has continued to act on-screen since then — including as one of the actors on soap opera satire Serial Killers and as Olivia's "selfish, conceited" father in hit Go Girls — his main work has involved the theatre. In 1992 Prast became founding director of the Auckland Theatre Company, which performed from different venues around the city. 

During his 11 years at the ATC, Prast produced or directed 60+plays, including the world premiere of Tom Scott’s The Daylight Atheist, a retooling of Briar-Grace Smith’s Haruru Mai (starring George Henare and Nancy Brunning) and American classic 12 Angry Men. The latter production was voted Production of the Decade by the theatre’s subscribers. He also won headlines for refusing to supply free tickets to a critic, after they wrote some negative reviews of ATC productions.

Prast went on to direct the first Auckland Festival AK03, which Metro's readers later voted Event of the Year. He then did a number of years running his family's acting agency The Waitakere Agency (TWA).

In June of 2010, Prast entered the race to become mayor of Auckland. Although he placed last of five candidates, he was glad to have run. As he told The NZ Herald, not only was it "an amazing thing to have been part of the process," but he also "didn't want John Banks to just hose in".

Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, Prast continued to build his acting slate. In 2016 he played a domineering company director in Filthy Rich, and in 2019 he joined the cast of The Gulf as Adam, the prison inmate father of detective Justin Harding. His other roles include an eight episode stint on fantasy series The New Legends of Monkey, wine drama Under the Vines, and the vengeful protagonist of short film Unforgettable.  

Prast appeared briefly in horror hit X (2022). He later made a memorable return appearance in the third film in the series, MaXXXine (2024).

Profile updated on 29 August 2025

Sources include
 'Simon Prast - from playing the son to playing the father...'  (Video Interview) NZ On Screen website. Director Andrew Whiteside. Loaded 4 December 2012. Accessed 29 August 2025
Michele Hewitson, 'Michelle Hewitson Interview: Simon Prast' (Interview) – The NZ Herald, 8 June 2013
Michelle Hewitson, 'Simon Prast: Star-struck box office winner' (Interview) – The NZ Herald, 18 January 2003
Glenn Lovell, When Love Comes (Review) – Variety, 2 November 1998
Gloss (third season press kit) 1990
When Love Comes (press kit) 1998
Plays Archive. Auckland Theatre Company website (broken link). Accessed 25 June 2010
'Simon Prast - Director' (Profile) Auckland Theatre Company website (broken link). Accessed 25 June 2010