Simon Pegg Biography

Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter who became a household name in the UK for co-creating Channel 4’s Spaced (1999–2001). In collaboration with Edgar Wright, he co-wrote the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End. Besides co-writing the films, he also acted in the films opposite Nick Frost while Wright directed them. In 2011, he co-wrote Paul with Frost.

Simon Pegg Age

Pegg was born Simon John Beckingham on February 14, 1970, in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England. He is 54 years old as of 2024. Pegg celebrates his birthday on February 14th.

Simon Pegg Height

Pegg stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 10 inches.

Simon Pegg Family

Pegg was born to civil servant Gillian Rosemary Smith and jazz musician and keyboard salesman John Henry Beckingham. When he was 7, his parents separated and his mother remarried. After her mother’s remarriage, he started using his stepfather’s surname, “Pegg. He has a brother named Mike who still uses his Beckingham as his surname. In 2020, Mike starred in The Host. His parents and sister temporarily starred in Spaced. Further, his mother starred in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Simon Pegg Wife

Pegg married his long-time girlfriend, Maureen McCann, on July 23, 2005, in Glasgow, where Nick Frost was the best man. Maureen works as a music industry publicist. The family lives in Essendon, Hertfordshire. She gave birth to their only child, Matilda, in 2009. Matilda is 15 years old as of 2024.

Pegg is an atheist. Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, is the godfather to his daughter. Similarly, Pegg is the godfather to Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter, Apple, with Jonny Buckland. Moreover, he is friends with Martin Freeman and is the godfather to his son.

Simon Pegg Net Worth

Pegg has an estimated net worth ranging between $20 Million – $30 Million which he has earned through being an actor, comedian, and screenwriter.

Simon Pegg Spaced

Pegg became a household name in the UK for co-creating Channel 4’s Spaced (1999–2001). In the film, he portrays an aspiring comic book artist called Tim Bisley. His work on the film won him a nomination for a BAFTA TV Situation Comedy Award and a British Comedy Best Male Comedy Newcome Award.

Simon Pegg Shaun Of The Dead

In collaboration with Edgar Wright, Pegg co-wrote the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End. In Shaun of the Dead, he portrayed Shaun Riley opposite Kate Ashfield(playing his girlfriend, Liz) and Nick Frost(playing his best friend, Ed). Lacking ambition and feeling unfulfilled, Shaun works at an electronics store. After a zombie outbreak happens in London, he is initially blind to the chaos around him. However, he starts taking charge and protecting his loved ones, especially Liz and Ed, after he gradually understands the seriousness of the situation.

Pegg’s performance in the film won him the 2004 Bram Stoker Best Screenplay (shared with Edgar Wright) Award, British Independent Film Best Screenplay (shared with Edgar Wright) Award, and Peter Sellers Comedy Award. Further, he won nominations for the Empire Best British Actor Award, the London Film Critics Circle British Screenwriter of the Year(with Edgar Wright) Award, and the Online Film Critics Society Best Original Screenplay (with Edgar Wright) Award.

Simon Pegg Ready Player One

Pegg starred as Ogden “Og” Morrow in Ready Player One. Og is a co-founder of the OASIS with James Halliday, his childhood friend. Despite their close friendship, they have a falling out due to personal issues, especially regarding Og’s wife, Kira.

Simon Pegg Mission Impossible

After finishing Shaun of the Dead, Pegg starred in Mission: Impossible III as Benji Dunn. He recurred the role of Benji in four further Mission: Impossible sequel films: Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, Fallout, and Dead Reckoning Part One. He will recur his role as Benji in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in 2025.

Benji is a field agent and tech specialist within the Impossible Mission Force (IMF). In this magnitude, he regularly helps Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), in various high-stakes missions. Further, he handles critical tasks such as hacking and surveillance. Pegg won a 2015 nomination for a Saturn Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Simon Pegg Nick Frost

Pegg and Nick Frost are a celebrated comedy duo famous for their collaborations in film and TV, more so, in the comedy genre that mixes elements of horror and science fiction. They co-starred in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End where Pegg plays the hero while Frost plays the sidekick. They also co-starred in Spaced and Truth Seekers. In 2011, he co-wrote Paul with Frost.

Simon Pegg Coldplay/Chris Martin

Pegg is close friends with Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. They both act as godfathers to each other’s children. He played the role of a violin-playing Elvis impersonator in the video for Coldplay’s 2010 “Christmas Lights.” During a British GQ magazine interview in July 2018, he revealed that his daughter sang backing vocals for Coldplay onstage at the Glastonbury Festival.

Simon Pegg Rehab/Addiction

Pegg opened up about his fight with depression and alcoholism during a July 2018 interview with The Guardian. He also talked about how rehab helped him recover from alcoholism. Further, he said that he can see his fairly lost, unhappy, and alcoholic self while watching Mission: Impossible III.

Pegg also said that he is not ashamed of what happened and he hopes that it may help motivate someone to get better if they could make a connection to it. Conversely, he said that he was not proud of it. He went to rehab shortly before the production of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. He kept his recuperation away from tabloids through court orders. However, some journalists went to the clinic pretending to be his mother for a scoop. He has been sober ever since and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Simon Pegg Instagram

Pegg has an active Instagram account that has over 1.4M followers.

Simon Pegg Education

Pegg studied at Castle Hill Primary School, Brockworth Comprehensive Secondary School, and The King’s School, Gloucester. At 16, he relocated to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire where he studied English Literature and Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon College.

In 1991, he graduated with a Bachelor Of Arts degree in Theatre, Film, and TV from the University of Bristol. He named his undergraduate thesis, A Marxist Overview of Popular 1970s Cinema and Hegemonic Discourses. There, he performed as part of a comedy troupe called “David Icke and the Orphans of Jesus” opposite Dominik Diamond, David Walliams, and Jason Bradbury.

Simon Pegg Career

After graduating from university, he went into stand-up comedy since he enjoyed it and felt that it gave him an autonomy he wouldn’t have if he sat and waited for the phone to ring as an actor. He then started drifting toward comedy acting through it as when he was younger he wanted to be at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

During his early career, Pegg starred in TV series and films like Six Pairs of Pants, Asylum, Faith in the Future, Big Train, and Hippies. He regularly starred in BBC Radio 4’s  The 99p Challenge from 1998 to 2004. Further, he appeared in Black Books, Brass Eye, I’m Alan Partridge, The Parole Officer, 24 Hour Party People, and Guest House Paradiso. During the tour of Steve Coogan’s The Man Who Thinks He’s It, he starred in multiple roles.

Pegg created and co-wrote Spaced with Jessica Stevenson in 1999. Edgar Wright directed the film after he worked with both Pegg and Stevenson on Asylum. In the film, Pegg specifically wrote the character Mike Watt with his friend, Nick Frost, in mind. His performance in the film won him a nomination for a British Comedy Best Male Comedy Newcomer Award. Writing Spaced propelled him to co-write  Shaun of the Dead. George A. Romero invited him and Edgar Wright to make cameo appearances in Land of the Dead.

2004 to 2006

Pegg made a guest appearance in Danger! 50,000 Zombies! as Dr. Fell in 2004. He starred as Johnny Alpha in a series of Big Finish Productions audio plays based on the character from the British comic 2000 AD. Further, he starred as Don Chaney in Big Finish Productions’ Doctor Who audio story, Invaders From Mars. In 2005, he starred in the Doctor Who TV series as the Editor in the episode, “The Long Game.” Moreover, he worked as the narrator of Doctor Who Confidential SN 1.

After finishing Shaun of the Dead, Pegg starred in Mission: Impossible III as Benji Dunn in 2006. He recurred the role of Benji in four further Mission: Impossible sequel films: Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, Fallout, and Dead Reckoning Part One. He will recur his role as Benji in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in 2025. He starred as Gus in Big Nothing opposite David Schwimmer in 2006. That same year, he and Wright finished their second film, Hot Fuzz.

2007 to present;

Pegg appeared in The Good Night in 2007 opposite Thandie Newton and Hank Azaria. The following year, he served as the writer for the dialogue for an English language re-release of Free Jimmy. He was credited for the screenwriting and provided the voice for one of the main characters in the English-language version. He co-wrote the script for Paul, which appeared in the 2008 Brit List inspired by the American Black List.

Pegg starred as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in Star Trek, recurring in the role in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. He also co-wrote Star Trek Beyond. In 2010, he starred as William Burke in Burke & Hare. Further, he provided the voice for Reepicheep in Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

In 2013, Pegg and Wright finished the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy with the release of The World’s End. In July of the following year, he made an appearance on stage as the special guest opposite Monty Python during their live show Monty Python Live (Mostly) at the O₂ Arena, London. The following year, he starred as Unkar Plutt in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He also provided the voiceover for Professor Phineas Nigellus Black in the video game, Hogwarts Legacy in 2023. In May of that same year, Lauren Laverne interviewed him on BBC’s Desert Island Discs. He will voice Buck in Ice Age 6 in 2026.

Political Views and Activism

Pegg expressed his support for the feminist campaign, HeForShe, in 2014. Two years later, he said that he respected Jeremy Corbyn and believed in Britain’s Stronger in Europe’s ideas in relation to the EU. He also signed an open letter in 2020 that calls for the wealthiest in society to pay more taxes to help fight inequality. The following year, he became an activist for Greenpeace, protesting overfishing and endorsing their “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” campaign.

Simon Pegg Movies and TV Shows

Pegg has starred in several movies and TV shows during her career such as

• Tube Tales
• Faith in the Future
• The Parole Officer
• The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse
• Final Demand
• We Know Where You Live
• Big Train
• Big Nothing
• The Good Night
• Run Fatboy Run
• The Boys
• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
• The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• A Fantastic Fear of Everything
• The World’s End
• Kill Me Three Times
• Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose
• WondLa