Simon Pegg

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Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg Premiere of Kill Me Three Times (cropped).jpg
Pegg in March 2015
Born Simon John Beckingham
(1970-02-14) 14 February 1970 (age 54)
Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England
Residence Crouch End, London, England
Occupation Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer
Years active 1995–present
Spouse(s) Maureen McCann (m. 2005)
Children 1

Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970)[1] is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for having co-written and starred in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy of films: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), as well as the comedy series Spaced (1999–2001), all directed by his friend Edgar Wright.

Pegg also portrayed Montgomery Scott in Star Trek (2009) and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), Thompson in The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011), and Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible film series (2006–present). Much of his work has been in collaboration with some combination of Wright, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Dylan Moran.

Early life

Pegg was raised in Brockworth, Gloucestershire,[2][3] the son of Gillian Rosemary (née Smith), a former civil servant, and John Henry Beckingham, a jazz musician and keyboard salesman.[4] His parents divorced when he was seven and he took the surname of his stepfather (Pegg), after his mother remarried.[5][6] Pegg attended various schools, including Castle Hill Primary School,[7] Brockworth Comprehensive Secondary School[7] and The King's School, Gloucester.[8]

Pegg moved to Stratford-upon-Avon when he was 16 and studied English Literature and Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon College.[9] He graduated from the University of Bristol in 1991 with a BA in Theatre, Film and Television[1] and wrote his undergraduate thesis on "A Marxist overview of popular 1970s cinema and hegemonic discourses".[6] While there, he performed as a member of the comedy troupe "David Icke and the Orphans of Jesus", alongside David Walliams, Dominik Diamond, Myfanwy Moore, Barnaby Power, and Jason Bradbury.[7]

Career

Pegg in New York City, July 2008

Pegg's early appearances in TV series and films include Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies. Between 1998 and 2004, Pegg was regularly featured on BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge. Pegg's other credits include appearances in the World War II mini-series Band of Brothers; the television comedies Black Books, Brass Eye and I'm Alan Partridge; and the films The Parole Officer, 24 Hour Party People, and Guest House Paradiso. He played various roles during the tour of Steve Coogan's 1998 live stage show The Man Who Thinks He's It.[7]

Pegg at a premiere for Star Trek in April 2009

In 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. The series was directed by Edgar Wright, with whom Pegg and Stevenson had previously worked on Asylum, and Pegg wrote the character of Mike Watt specifically for his friend Nick Frost.[7] For his performance in this series, Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer.[10] The experience of making a Spaced fantasy sequence featuring zombies led to Pegg and Wright co-writing the "romantic zombie comedy" film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004, in which Pegg also starred.[7] At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's zombie film, Land of the Dead.[7] In 2004, Pegg 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. Fell.

He played 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. Pegg also appeared in Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who audio story Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and appeared in the Doctor Who television series, playing the Editor in the 2005 episode "The Long Game". He also narrated the first series of the "making-of" documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.

Upon completion of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned as to whether he would be abandoning the British film industry for bigger and better things, and he replied, "It's not like I'm going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!", picking the title of an imaginary blockbuster. When the film Mission: Impossible III was subsequently made, Pegg appeared in it as Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt.[6] He reprised the role of Benji Dunn in the 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol[11] and the 2015 film Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

In 2006, he played Gus in Big Nothing alongside David Schwimmer. The same year, 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, in which Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London policeman transferred to rural Sandford, a fictional village where grisly events take place. In 2007, Pegg starred in The Good Night (directed by Jake Paltrow) and Run Fatboy Run directed by David Schwimmer and co-starring Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria. In 2008, he wrote the dialogue for an English language re-release of the cult 2006 animated Norwegian film, Free Jimmy. Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and Pegg also voiced one of the main characters in the English-language version, which has an international range of actors including Woody Harrelson.

Pegg co-wrote the script for a film called Paul, about two young men who encounter a comedic extraterrestrial alien during a road trip across the US.[12][13] The completed script appeared on the 2008 "Brit List", a film-industry-compiled survey of the best unproduced British screenplays, inspired by the American Black List.[14] In those films and in Spaced, Pegg typically plays the leading hero while Frost plays the sidekick. However Paul reverses this dynamic.[15] The film was later produced, and was released in 2011.

Pegg and Wright completed the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (the first two films being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) with their 2013 film The World's End.[16]

Pegg played engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in Star Trek, the eleventh film in the Star Trek film series,[17] released 8 May 2009. He reprised the role in the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness.[18] In 2010 he appeared as William Burke in Burke and Hare, a film directed by John Landis about some Ulstermen 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.[19] He voiced Reepicheep, the heroic mouse in Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.[20]

Personal life

Pegg married his long-time girlfriend Maureen McCann, a music industry publicist, on 23 July 2005 in Glasgow.[21][22] Nick Frost was the best man at his wedding.[23] The couple has one child together, Matilda (born 2009).[24][25][26]

Along with Jonny Buckland, Pegg is godfather to Apple, daughter of close friends Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow.[24][27] In return, Martin is godfather to Pegg's daughter.[28] Pegg's parents and sister briefly appeared in Spaced, while his mother appeared in both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Pegg was awarded an honorary fellowship by the University of Gloucestershire on 4 December 2008.[29]

Pegg has supported the HeForShe feminist campaign.[30]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1999 Tube Tales Clerk Segment: "Steal Away"
1999 Guest House Paradiso Mr. Nice
2001 The Parole Officer Deflated Husband
2002 24 Hour Party People Paul Morley
2004 Shaun of the Dead Shaun Riley Also co-writer
2005 The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Peter Cow
2005 Land of the Dead Photo Booth Zombie Cameo
2006 Mission: Impossible III Benji Dunn
2006 Big Nothing Gus
2006 Free Jimmy Odd (voice) Also writer of the English version
2007 Grindhouse Cannibal Segment: "Don't"
2007 The Good Night Paul
2007 Hot Fuzz PC/Sergeant/Inspector Nicholas Angel Also co-writer
2007 Run Fatboy Run Dennis Doyle Also co-writer
2007 Diary of the Dead Newsreader (voice) Cameo
2008 How to Lose Friends and Alienate People Sidney Young
2009 Star Trek Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
2009 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Buck (voice)
2010 Burke and Hare William Burke
2010 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader[31] Reepicheep (voice)
2011 Paul Graeme Willy Also co-writer[32]
2011 Scrat's Continental Crack-up Buck (voice) Short film
2011 The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn Thompson
2011 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Benji Dunn
2011 The Death and Return of Superman John Landis Short film
2012 A Fantastic Fear of Everything Jack Also executive producer
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
2013 The World's End Gary King Also co-writer and executive producer
2014 Cuban Fury Mondeo Driver Uncredited cameo
2014 Hector and the Search for Happiness Hector
2014 Kill Me Three Times Charlie Wolfe
2014 The Boxtrolls Hebert Trubshaw (voice)
2015 Man Up Jack Also executive producer
2015 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Benji Dunn
2015 Absolutely Anything Neil Clarke
2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Unkar Plutt
2016 Ice Age: Collision Course Buck (voice) Post-production
2016 Star Trek Beyond Montgomery "Scotty" Scott Post-production, also co-writer

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Six Pairs of Pants Various Characters Also writer
3 episodes
1995–1998 Faith in the Future Jools 15 episodes
1996 Asylum Simon Also writer
6 episodes
1997 I'm Alan Partridge Steve Bennett Episode: "Watership Alan"
1997 We Know Where You Live Various Characters[33] 12 episodes
1998 Live from the Lighthouse Robert Jobson Television film
1998 Is It Bill Bailey? Various Characters 6 episodes
1998–2002 Big Train Various Characters Also writer
12 episodes
1999 Tube Tales Clerk Segment: "Steal Away"
1999 Hippies Ray Purbbs 6 episodes
1999–2001 Spaced Tim Bisley Also co-writer
14 episodes
2000 Randall & Hopkirk Justin Pope Episode: "Paranoia"
2001 Brass Eye Gerard Chote Episode: "Paedophilia Special"
2001 Band of Brothers First Sergeant William Evans 2 episodes
2001 Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible Angus Episode: "Curse of the Blood of the Lizard of Doom"
2002 Look Around You Sleeping Queen's Guard Episode: "Maths"
2002 Linda Green Jay Episode: "Dark Side of the Moon"
2003 Final Demand Colin Taylor Television film
2004 Sex & Lies Radio DJ Television film
2004 Black Books Evan Episode: "Manny Come Home"
2004 I Am Not an Animal Kieron (voice) 6 episodes
2005 Look Around You Handsome Man Episode: "Health"
2005 Doctor Who The Editor Episode: "The Long Game"
2005 Doctor Who Confidential Narrator Documentary series
2005 Spider-Plant Man Frank Matters Television film
2009 Robot Chicken Various voices 2 episodes
2012 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Dengar (voice) Episode: "Bounty"
2012 Room on the Broom Narrator Television film
2012–2014 Phineas and Ferb Various voices 4 episodes
2013 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Pitch Kickham (voice) Episode: "The McHugger Games/McFreaks"
2013 Mob City Hecky Nash 2 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role
2010 Fable III Ben Finn (voice)
2011 Spare Parts Con-Rad (voice)
2013 Star Trek Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (voice)

Awards and nominations

Year Nominated work Award Result
1999 Big Train British Comedy Award for Best Male Comedy Award Nominated
2000 Spaced BAFTA TV Situation Comedy Award (shared with Edgar Wright, Nira Park and Jessica Hynes) Nominated
British Comedy Award for Best Male Comedy Newcomer[10] Nominated
2004 Shaun of the Dead Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay (shared with Edgar Wright) Won
British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay (shared with Edgar Wright) Won
Peter Sellers Award for Comedy Won
Empire Award for Best British Actor Nominated
London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Screenwriter of the Year (shared with Edgar Wright) Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay (shared with Edgar Wright) Nominated
2007 Hot Fuzz Empire Award for Best Actor Nominated
2009 Star Trek Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast Won
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated
Critics' Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated
Scream Award for Best Ensemble Nominated
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture (shared with Peter de Sève) Nominated
2014 The World's End Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Nominated
Saturn Award for Best Writing Nominated
Saturn Award for Best Actor Nominated

References

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External links

Preceded by
none
 Narrator of Doctor Who Confidential
2005		 Succeeded by
Mark Gatiss

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