Simon Pegg

Simon Pegg has gone from comic book geek to Hollywood star in less than 20 years. Simon is a comedy actor, writer and stand up whose box office takings have amassed more than $900 million.

Simon was born in Gloucestershire in 1970 and studied drama at Bristol University. He started performing stand up in 1993 and took his first show to Edinburgh in 1995 leading to performances at comedy festivals in Australia and New Zealand.

He caught the eye of television producers and appeared in a variety of sitcoms and sketch shows including I'm Alan Partridge, the brilliant Big Train and the underrated Hippies.

In 1999, he co-wrote and starred in Spaced which catapulted him into stardom. The sitcom about two twenty-somethings with little to no direction was universally acclaimed and featured brilliant performances by Simon, co-writer Jessica Stevenson (now Hynes), Nick Frost, Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz and was noted for its fast pace and frequent pop culture references.

Simon then moved to feature films in 2004 with Shaun Of The Dead, written with director Edgar Wright and co-starring his long time friend Nick Frost. The three worked together again on 2007's Hot Fuzz.

Simon Pegg is certainly someone that stays true to his roots despite his success. He regularly pops up in sitcoms which feature his friends, having featured in episodes of Black Books and Look Around You.

Since moving into film, Simon has caught the eye of Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise when the pair worked together in Mission Impossible III and was asked to play the part of Scotty in the new Star Trek roles by director JJ Abrams.

Simon is set to reprise both roles in forthcoming sequels. Also in the pipeline for Simon is Paul, the film co-written with Nick Frost and directed by Superbad's Greg Mottola about two comic book geeks who encounter an alien and The Adventures of Tintin, which is directed by Steven Spielberg and features Simon and Nick Frost as hapless detectives Thomson and Thompson.

All this success is not a surprise if you look at Simon Pegg's stand up work. Seek out his turn on the BBC in 1995. Even at the age of 25, Simon exuded a confidence and sense of comic timing that was beyond his years and had a lot of people writing down his name to say where they saw him first.

Simon Pegg is deservedly now a star all over the world and we hope that it continues long into this decade and the next as Simon could become our greatest comic export since Peter Sellers.

Did You Know?:

Simon Pegg is godfather to Chris Martin and Gwenyth Paltrow's daughter Apple. He has also played harmonica with Coldplay live. Is there no end to the man's talents? Honestly it's enough to make you sick.