Simon Pegg

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

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 1999, he created and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced with Jessica Stevenson. For this project Pegg brought in his best friend, Nick Frost. For his performance in this series Pegg was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Male Comedy Newcomer. Ricky Gervais also made an early appearance in this sitcom in 2001 as the character Dave, a letting agent who introduced Tim & Daisy (Simon & Jessica's characters) to their flat.

Pegg co-wrote (with Spaced director Edgar Wright) and starred in the "romantic zombie comedy" film Shaun of the Dead, released in April 2004.

In 2002, Karl Pilkington became friends with Simon and Nick when he went to an awards show in Edinburgh with Ricky and Steve. Ricky called them Karl's "new best friends" because they believed in ghosts and humored Karl's fascination with the supernatural and ridiculous stories.

Most recently, Pegg co-wrote (with Edgar Wright) and starred in Hot Fuzz (2007). He starred as police officer Nick Angel, and was brilliantly backed by Nick Frost.

Stephen Merchant also had a small cameo in the film where he played Mr P.I. Staker (Piss Taker), a gentleman who had lost one of his swans.