Andrew Shim

Early life

Although born in the United States, Shim moved over to England with his family when he was six years old. He is of black and Chinese descent. He started at Nottingham's Central Junior Television Workshop when he was 14. His sister, Shauna Shim, was already attending and, although not initially keen, he joined to please his grandma. Shim was on the verge of leaving when he auditioned for a local film project to be directed by Shane Meadows. Repeated callbacks resulted in him being cast as the title character in A Room for Romeo Brass.

Career

Since starring as Romeo in A Room for Romeo Brass, Shim has become a close friend of director Meadows, appearing in subsequent features Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002), Dead Man's Shoes (2004) and This Is England (2006) as well as the spin-off TV series This Is England '86 (2010), This Is England '88 (2011) and This Is England '90 (2015). He was also in the quarter-minute film "The Stairwell", which was Meadows' 2005 entry in the Nokia Shorts competition.

Additionally, Shim has appeared in several advertisements. He played a salesman in an Act On CO2 commercial, and also appeared in an Orange Mobile advert which was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. He played the role of Jamie in British prison film Screwed (2011) and will play the character of Sam in upcoming film Airborne starring Mark Hamill.

Personal life

Away from acting, Shim has a passion for sports cars. Having also worked for an IT software company, he regards himself as "a bit of an Arthur Daley", being quite successful at buying and selling used vehicles. He has stated that his dream car would be a black Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster. Shim is also an amateur mixed martial artist, competing in the featherweight division and training under Jim Wallhead.