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Simon Pegg

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Simon Pegg as the title role in Shaun of the Dead
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Simon Pegg as the title role in Shaun of the Dead

Simon John Pegg (born February 14, 1970) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and film and television actor. He is best-known for his roles (as a co-writer and an actor) in the sitcom Spaced and the film Shaun of the Dead. Much of his major work has been in collaboration with some combination of Jessica Stevenson, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost.

Contents

Biography

Pegg was born in Gloucester and studied drama at the University of Bristol. In 1993 he moved to London and gigged on the stand-up comedy circuit before breaking into television comedy in Asylum, Six Pairs of Pants, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies.

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 who had no formal training as an actor. Spaced promoted both Frost's TV and film career and a professional relationship with Pegg. For his performance in this series Simon 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" (rom-zom-com) film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004. At George A. Romero's invitation, Pegg and Wright made cameo appearances in Romero's latest zombie film, Land of the Dead.

Other roles

As the Editor in the Doctor Who episode The Long Game
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As the Editor in the Doctor Who episode The Long Game

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.

Pegg appeared in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who audio story Invaders From Mars as Don Chaney, and portrayed the character of the Editor in the 2005 Doctor Who episode The Long Game. He also narrated the first series of the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential.

Pegg also auditioned for a part in the romantic comedy, Love Actually. The part he auditioned for was taken by the actor Rowan Atkinson.

After playing Shaun in Shaun of the Dead he himself played a zombie in George A. Romero's Land of the Dead. 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!" #redirect .

In 2006, Pegg did actually appear in the film . He played Benji Dunn, an I.M.F. technician who assists Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt.

Forthcoming work

Pegg and Wright have written their second film, Hot Fuzz, which began filming in March 2006. The film will be an police-action movie homage and will also star Nick Frost. Pegg will play Nicholas Angel, a London policeman who is transferred to rural Somerset, where grisly events start taking place.

Simon recently stated that he would like to return to Spaced in the form of a one hour special which would reveal the characters' fates. He revealed this in a radio interview with Spaced co-star Bill Bailey.

Selected TV

Selected filmography

External links

 

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