Simone Kleinsma

Simone Kleinsma (born 8 May 1958) is a musical theatre actress in the Netherlands.

Personal life
On 5 June 1990, Simone married Guus Verstraete, a Dutch television director.

Career
Simone provided voice over work to numerous major animated films; including The Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2, Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove, Esmé Holgert in Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, Georgette in Oliver and Company and An American Tail.

Kleinsma performs on regularly base with pianists (most often Cor Bakker or Tony Eyk) or orchestra. As an actress, she became known for her part in the TV-hit series 'Kees & Co' (aired from 1997 to 2006 at RTL Broadcasting). She played Kees Heistee, mother of Anne (Amber Teterissa) and Rudie (Robin Tjon Pian Gi) and married to Ben Heistee (Rik Hoogendoorn).

In 1996–1997 she presented the cooking program 'Koken met Cas'.

She won the 2023 season of The Masked Singer.

Awards

 * Pisuisse Award for most promising major student Kleinkunst Academie (1978)
 * Academy Award/ Gouden Beelden for Best Comedy actress as Kees Heistee in Kees & Co (1999)
 * Golden Harp (2000)
 * John Kraaijkamp Musical Award for her part as Donna Stuiveling in the musical Mamma Mia! (2004)
 * John Kraaijkamp Musical Award for playing Norma Desmond in the musical Sunset Boulevard (2009)
 * John Kraaijkamp Musical Award: Speciale Theater Award for her theatershow Simone: Songs from the Heart (2010)
 * Nomination John Kraaijkamp Musical Award for Best performance by an actress in a leading role as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago (2000)
 * Nomination John Kraaijkamp Musical Award voor Best performance by an actress in a leading role in Fosse (2003)