Simon Pegg

Actor/screenwriter Simon Pegg's breakthrough success was the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced. With Jessica Hynes, he co-wrote and starred in the show, which was directed by Edgar Wright. A second series was commissioned before the first had even been broadcast. The show was nominated for Best Sitcom, and he for Best TV Newcomer, at the British Comedy Awards; and the program also received BAFTA, Montreux, and International Emmy Award nominations.

He and director Edgar Wright then co-scripted the feature Shaun of the Dead, in which he starred opposite Spaced alumnus Nick Frost. The zombie tale opened in the #2 spot at the U.K. box office and found success in the U.S. Mr. Pegg was honored with the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy from the Evening Standard British Film Awards. The movie was nominated for two BAFTA Awards, including Outstanding British Film of the Year; and won the British Independent Film Award (BIFA) for Best Screenplay.

After conquering zombies, award ceremonies, and the U.S., Mr. Pegg next co-scripted with director Edgar Wright the übercop action comedy Hot Fuzz, in which he again starred with Nick Frost. The picture opened at #1 atop the U.K. box office and was a hit in the U.S. Mr. Pegg was an Empire Award nominee for Best Actor, and the movie won Best Comedy and was voted Best Comedy at the U.K.'s National Movie Awards.

The trio capped off their "Cornetto Trilogy" with The World's End, the apocalyptic reunion tale that Mr. Pegg co-scripted with Edgar Wright; executive-produced; and starred in alongside Nick Frost with Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, and Rosamund Pike. The movie was one of the best-reviewed films of 2013 and found box office success in the U.K. and then in the U.S., surpassing the returns on the two earlier movies. The movie was named Best British Film at the Empire Awards, where Mr. Pegg was honored with the Hero Award. His performance in the film brought him a Critics' Choice Movie Award nomination as well as a Saturn Award nomination; he was also a Saturn nominee for the screenplay.

With Nick Frost, he co-scripted the science-fiction adventure Paul, in which the duo starred under the direction of Greg Mottola, and which was voted Best Comedy at the U.K.'s National Movie Awards. Among Mr. Pegg's other works as screenwriter are Run, Fatboy, Run, in which he starred for director David Schwimmer.

Audiences worldwide have seen him starring alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible III and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, directed by J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird, respectively; and in Mr. Abrams' Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. He is reuniting with Mr. Cruise for a new Mission: Impossible movie being directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

His other starring roles on-screen include John Landis' Burke and Hare; Crispian Mills and Chris Hopewell's A Fantastic Fear of Everything; Robert B. Weide's How to Lose Friends & Alienate People; and, most recently, Peter Chelsom's Hector and the Search for Happiness, in which he played the title role. Mr. Pegg will star in the fantasy comedy Absolutely Anything for director Terry Jones.

His voiceover work as actor includes the Ice Age series; and, with Nick Frost, Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin.

Aside from Spaced, Mr. Pegg starred as a series regular on such sitcoms as Faith in the Future and Asylum, which marked his first collaboration with Edgar Wright and Jessica Hynes; guest-starred on Doctor Who and I'm Alan Partridge, among other shows; and in the sketch series Big Train, for which he received an Royal Television Society Award nomination for Best Entertainment Performance. His other notable television appearances include the classic miniseries Band of Brothers.

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