Variety said that "Compact and bristling with contained energy, Simon Merrells has the right physicality to play Terry but never quite emerges from Brando’s long shadow". The Independent said he "brings his own brand of studied vulnerability and sullen pride to the part".
He is also a stage actor. He is the older brother of Jason Merrells. Merrells has worked with director Steven Berkoff several times, first in a world tour of the play Coriolanus.
In 2009, he played Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, directed by Berkoff.
Merrells performed as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Liverpool Playhouse in 2007, and starred as Oedipus in another Berkoff production at the same venue in 2011. He was nominated for a Stage Award for Best Actor for that role.
Later that year he played detective Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep. The Stage said he was "charismatic" but "a touch too suave and slick".
He started drama school, but soon left to work as a minicab driver to fund travelling to Mexico, where he painted.
