(1971-01-31) 31 January 1971 (age 53) Paramaribo, Suriname
Political party
BIJ1[a] (2016–present)
Other political affiliations
DENK (2016)
Spouse
Frank van Hoorn
(m. 2003; div. 2006)
Children
2
Relatives
Kenneth Leeuwin (half-brother)
Occupation
Politician
television presenter
VJ
dancer
Known for
Dancing with the Stars, De bus, TV makelaar
Signature
^Known as Artikel 1 (Article 1) until 2017.
Silvana Hildegard "Sylvana" Simons[a] (Dutch pronunciation: [sɪlˈvaːnaː ˈsimɔns]; born 31 January 1971) is a Surinamese-born Dutch politician and former television presenter. She has served as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021 on behalf of BIJ1, an egalitarian anti-racist party founded by Simons in 2016.
She was born in Suriname and moved to the Netherlands while an infant. She was a dancer in the Amsterdam nightlife scene before becoming a VJ for the new music channel TMF in 1995. Simons left four years later to join SBS Broadcasting, where she presented reality television series De bus (2000). She subsequently spent almost a decade at RTL Nederland, hosting the first few seasons of TV makelaar (2001–05) about home buying and the Saturday evening show Dancing with the Stars (2005–07). Starting in 2009, Simons worked some years in public broadcasting as a radio presenter on Radio 6 and for the association NPS.
She transitioned to politics in 2016, when she joined minority rights party DENK. Her career change followed her questioning of a term which she deemed racially insensitive during talk show De wereld draait door the previous year. Her speaking out against institutional racism – and especially Sinterklaas's blackfaced companion Zwarte Piet – caused fierce criticism on social media platforms and racist remarks and threats. Simons left DENK after seven months to establish her own political party called Artikel 1, which was later renamed BIJ1. She did not win a seat in the 2017 general election, but she was elected to the Amsterdam municipal council the following year. Simons became the first black parliamentary leader in Dutch history following her election to the House of Representatives in 2021.
^"Vergadering RAAD 04-11-2020" [Meeting COUNCIL 04-11-2020]. Gemeente Amsterdam Raadsinformatie (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^"Afstammingsreeks Amba Leeuwin - Sylvana Simons" [Pedigree chart Amba Leeuwin - Sylvana Simons]. NTR (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 December 2021.
^ abCite error: The named reference EW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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Silvana Hildegard "Sylvana" Simons (Dutch pronunciation: [sɪlˈvaːnaː ˈsimɔns]; born 31 January 1971) is a Surinamese-born Dutch politician and former...
political party in the Netherlands. It was founded in Amsterdam in 2016 by SylvanaSimons, a television personality who was formerly connected to another party...
Swiss curler Sylvana Foa (born 1945), American journalist and spokesperson Sylvana Gómez, Guatemalan beach volleyball player SylvanaSimons (born 1971)...
Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2021. Otjes, Simon (2022). "From Eurorealism to Europhilia? The 2021 Dutch Elections and the...
Netherlands, but this quickly increased. The nascent channel featured SylvanaSimons, Bridget Maasland, Isabelle Brinkman, Fabienne de Vries, Ruud de Wild...
Simons is a surname. Alan Simons (born 1968), Welsh goalkeeper Alexandra Simons de Ridder (born 1963), German equestrian Algie Martin Simons (1870–1950)...
November 2023. "Rotterdammer Edson Olf volgt Simons op als lijsttrekker BIJ1" [Rotterdammer Edson Olf succeeds Simon as party leader BIJ1]. NOS (in Dutch)....
called antisemitic as it leaves no room for the State of Israel. When SylvanaSimons (BIJ1) repeated the words, Speaker Vera Bergkamp deprived her of the...
a migrant background to win seats in parliament. 2016 ⇒DENK member SylvanaSimons leaves the party after disputes about the party's conservative positions...
St. Claire (born 1949), singer Ernesto Hoost (born 1965), kickboxer SylvanaSimons (born 1971), presenter and politician Steven van Weyenberg (born 1973)...
Ramsewak Shankar (born 1937) Jules Sedney (1922–2020) Jennifer Simons (born 1953) SylvanaSimons (born 1971) Willy Soemita (born 1936) Paul Somohardjo (born...
vice-chairman of the House of Representatives. Tellegen collided with SylvanaSimons during a committee meeting in December 2021. She wanted to point out...
Jan Mulder, Yvon Jaspers, Halina Reijn, Giel Beelen, Mathijs Bouman, SylvanaSimons, Marc-Marie Huijbregts and André van Duin. House poet Nico Dijkshoorn...
won a gold medal at the 1986 World Championships. Dutch politician SylvanaSimons is Kenneth Leeuwin's half sister. Van Rhee, Annemart (20 May 2016)....
Hoogland Rick van Velthuysen Robert Jensen Robin Lefeber Ruud de Wild SylvanaSimons Timo Kamst Will Luikinga Wouter van der Goes Niek van der Bruggen...
actress 22 January - Wendy van Dijk, actress & TV presenter 31 January - SylvanaSimons, TV & radio presenter 10 June - Reinout Oerlemans, actor, director,...
workload as an independent politician, Den Haan started cooperating with SylvanaSimons (BIJ1) and Caroline van der Plas (BBB), who also have a one-person group...
Angelo Penning' of the COC in 1997. "TV presenter turned politician SylvanaSimons has heavyweight party list". Dutch News. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 8...
Monique van der Werff (Taffie Arends) Sander Jan Klerk (Aaron Zomerkamp) SylvanaSimons (Safira) Gys de Villiers (Cornelis de Groot) Sabine Koning (Gaby Komproe)...
Discrimination, Airco offered a sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. to SylvanaSimons at the Open Space Contemporary Art Museum in Amsterdam. With the art...
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