A Glouchester native who completed his education at Bristol University before segueing into film and television, Pegg showed considerable promise as an actor in his early television appearances.
It was during the production of Six Pairs of Pants that Pegg made the acquaintance of future collaborators Jessica_Stevenson and Edgar_Wright, and in the years that followed, the trio would find notable small-screen success in such efforts as Asylum and Spaced -- with the latter finding an especially strong following on U.K. television. Additional roles in Saturday_Live, the outlandish Big_Train, and as the lead in Hippies also served to boost Pegg's profile, and in 2001 he joined an impressive cast for a small role in Tom_Hanks' acclaimed miniseries Band of Brothers.
Though the majority of Pegg's exposure had been limited to the small screen at the dawn of the new millennium (save for brief appearances in such features as The_Parole_Officer and 24_Hour_Party_People), the prolific television comic made a successful leap to the big screen as the writer and eponymous character in 2004's Shaun of the Dead. Cast as a put-upon electronics-store employee who attempts to rescue his friend (played by Pegg real-life best friend and Spaced co-star Nick_Frost), mother, and ex-girlfriend as the zombie apocalypse rages around them, Pegg drew big laughs with Shaun, and it wasn't long before the film was scheduled for stateside release. A film championed by the likes of even zombie-genre inventor George_A._Romero for its witty writing and cleverly constructed chills, Shaun of the Dead found considerable success when released into stateside theaters in September 2004 (it would come as no surprise to fans of the film that it won the award for Best Screenplay at the 2004 British Independent Film Awards).
Back on the BBC, Pegg joined I'm_Alan_Partridge star Steve_Coogan in the bizarre genetically modified talking-animals comedy I Am Not an Animal before joining Shaun mate Peter_Serafinowicz for a few episodes of Look Around You and making an appearance in the 2005 series of his favorite childhood television program, Doctor_Who. A brief cameo in Romero's eagerly anticipated Land of the Dead quickly followed, and after lending his voice to the scatological computer-animated comedy Free_Jimmy, Pegg would "go-Hollywood" in a very big way by joining the Tom_Cruise team in Alias director J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible III.
Though Pegg went on to play a substantial role in director Jean-Baptiste Andrea's Big_Nothing shortly thereafter, the film was released straight to DVD in the U.S., and it wasn't until the release of Hot_Fuzz that American audiences would once again get a good look at Pegg and pal Frost as they re-teamed with director Wright to parody the action-packed police thrillers that fueled their imaginations as impressionable young children. simon pegg paulsimon pegg star treksimon pegg scottysimon pegg sean of the deadsimon pegg land of the deadshaun of the dead.
* Also Credited As:
Simon John Beckingham, Simon John Pegg
* Born:
Simon John Beckingham on February 14, 1970 in Gloucester, England, GB
* Job Titles:
Actor, Stand-up comedian, Director, Writer, Singer
Family
* Father: John Beckingham. Divorced Simon s mother when he was seven; also a keyboard salesman
* Mother: Gillian Rosemary. Divorced Simon s father when he was seven
Significant Others
* Wife: Maureen McCann.
Education
* Stratford Upon Avon College, Literature
* Stratford Upon Avon College, Other
* University of Bristol, Performing Arts
Milestones
* 1993 Moved to London and began working the stand-up comedy circuit
* 1995 Became a regular on the sketch comedy series Six Pairs of Pants ; first met Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright
* 1996 Had a long-standing role as Jools in the ITV sitcom Faith in the Future ; also starring Jessica Stevenson
* 1998 Co-starred in the sketch show, Big Train
* 1998 Featured regularly on BBC Radio 4 s The 99p Challenge
* 1999 Co-wrote and co-starred with fellow comedian Jessica Stevenson in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced ; directed by Wright and introduced Pegg s real-life best friend, Nick Frost
* 2001 Played Sergeant William Evans in the HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers
* 2003 Played the lead role in Final Demand
* 2004 Teamed with Wright to co-penn the screenplay for the zombie film Shaun of the Dead ; co-starred with Stevenson and Frost
* 2005 Made a cameo appearance in George A. Romero s latest zombie film, Land of the Dead
* 2006 Played an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise s character, Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible III
* 2007 Cast in Jake Paltrow s directorial debut, The Good Night
* 2007 Once again teamed with Wright to co-write and Frost to co-star in the cop comedy, Hot Fuzz
* 2008 Joined an ensemble cast for How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
* 2008 Played the lead in David Schwimmer s directorial debut, Run, Fat Boy, Run
* 2009 Cast as Engineer Scotty in JJ Abrams Star Trek
* 2009 Voiced a weasel known as Buck in the animated film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
* 2010 Voiced Reepicheep in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
* 2011 With Nick Frost, co-wrote and co-starred in the sci-fi comedy, Paul