FULL NAME: Simon John Pegg
BIRTHDATE: 14 February 1970
LOCATION: Gloucester, England
HEIGHT: 5' 10" (1.78 m)
Pegg was born as Simon John Beckingham in Gloucester,
England, the son of Gillian Rosemary (née Smith),
and John Henry Beckingham.
His parents divorced when he was seven. He attended Brockworth
Comprehensive Secondary School and later Stratford Upon Avon College
to study English Literature and Performance Studies. Pegg finally
studied drama at the University of Bristol and wrote his undergraduate
thesis on "A Marxist overview of popular Seventies cinema and
hegemonic discourses".
In 1993 he moved to London and gigged on the stand-up comedy circuit.
Failing that, he went into television comedy in Asylum, Six Pairs
of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies. From 1998
to 2004, Pegg regularly featured on BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge.
In 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with
Jessica Stevenson. For this project Pegg brought in Frost, his
best friend. For his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated
for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. Pegg
co-wrote (with Spaced director Edgar Wright) and starred in the
"romantic zombie comedy" film (or "RomZomCom") Shaun of the Dead,
released in April 2004. At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg
and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's film, Land of the
Dead. In 2004 Pegg also starred in a spin-off of the television
show Danger! 50,000 Volts! called Danger! 50,000 Zombies!, in
which he played a Zombie Hunter named Dr Russel Fell.
Pegg's other credits include the World War II miniseries Band
of Brothers, guest appearances on Black Books, Brass Eye Special,
I'm Alan Partridge , The Parole Officer and in the Factory Records
story 24 Hour Party People. He also played the mutant bounty hunter
Johnny Alpha, the Strontium Dog, in a series of Big Finish Productions
audio plays based on the character from British comic 2000 AD
and featured in Guest House Paradiso, a film based on the sitcom
Bottom, where he played a guest at Richie and Eddie's hotel.
Pegg appeared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story
Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and portrayed the Editor in
the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Long Game". He also narrated
the first series of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.
Upon completion
of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned on whether he would
be abandoning the British film industry for bigger and better
things, to which he replied "It's not like I'm going to run off
and do Mission: Impossible III!" He then promptly went on to do
just that, playing Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists
Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt. In 2006 he played an American
character, Gus, in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer.
In 2006, Pegg and Wright completed their second film, Hot Fuzz,
released in February 2007. The film is a police-action movie homage
and also stars Nick Frost. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London
policeman who is transferred to rural Sandford, where grisly events
take place.
During 2007 Pegg
has also starred in The Good Night (directed by Jake Paltrow)
and Run, Fat Boy, Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring
Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria.
Pegg co-wrote and starred with Nick Frost in a film entitled Paul.
The plot revolves around characters played by Pegg and Frost road tripping across America. Pegg also announced that he and Wright had the
idea for "the concluding part in what we are calling our 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy" (the first two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
It is provisionally called The World Ends. In those films and in Spaced, Pegg typically plays the leading hero while Frost plays
the sidekick. However, he has revealed that Paul will reverse this dynamic. Pegg has also stated that Wright will not direct, Paul
not being part of their 'Blood and Ice Cream' trilogy. The completed script appeared on the 2008 Black List,
a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays. Paul received two votes.
Pegg played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the eleventh Star Trek film, released 8 May 2009.
He told Jo Russell's show on Absolute Radio that he is waiting for a Scotty action figure to add to his collection of
Simon Pegg action figures from Dr. Who, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. In 2010 he appeared as William Burke in Burke and Hare,
a film directed by John Landis about the Ulster men who were notorious murderers and bodysnatchers in early 19th-century Edinburgh.
His likeness was also used for the character of Wee Hughie in the comic book series The Boys; while this was done without Pegg's permission,
he quickly became a fan of the title, and even wrote the introduction to the first bound volume.
He also voiced Reepicheep, the heroic mouse in Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Pegg will be reprising the role of Benji Dunn in Mission: Impossible –
Ghost Protocol, making him the only actor from the film series other than Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames (who portrayed their characters in
every film) to appear in more than one of the films.
Pegg married Maureen McCann on 23 July 2005 in Glasgow. Nick Frost
was the best man. Pegg is godfather to Chris Martin and Gwyneth
Paltrow's daughter, Apple. Pegg's parents and sister briefly appeared
in Spaced while his mother alone appeared in both Shaun of the
Dead and Hot Fuzz.
In 2007, Pegg adopted a Miniature Schnauzer named Minnie.
Simon
and Maureen's first child was born Summer 2009.
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