Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter.

[10] He graduated from the University of Bristol in 1991 with a BA in theatre, film, and television,[3] titling his undergraduate thesis "A Marxist overview of popular 1970s cinema and hegemonic discourses".

[8] "When I graduated from university where I studied theater, film and television, I went into stand-up because comedy was something I enjoyed but also because it offered me a certain autonomy that I wouldn't have if I was sitting and waiting for the phone to ring as an actor.

"[11]Pegg's early appearances in TV series and films include Six Pairs of Pants (Meridian & Anglia, 1995),[12][13][14][15] Asylum, Faith in the Future, Big Train and Hippies.

Pegg's other credits include appearances in the World War II mini-series Band of Brothers; the television comedies Black Books, Brass Eye and I'm Alan Partridge; and the films The Parole Officer, 24 Hour Party People, and Guest House Paradiso.

[18] Upon completion of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was questioned as to whether he would be abandoning the British film industry for Hollywood, and he replied, "It's not like we're going to go away and do, I don't know, Mission: Impossible III", picking the title of an imaginary blockbuster.

When the film Mission: Impossible III was subsequently made, Pegg appeared in it as Benji Dunn, an IMF technician who assists Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt.

The film is a police-action movie homage and also stars Nick Frost, in which Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London policeman transferred to rural Sandford, a fictional village where grisly events take place.

Pegg received screenwriting credit for this, and also voiced one of the main characters in the English-language version, which has an international range of actors including Woody Harrelson.

Pegg co-wrote the script for a film called Paul, about two young men who encounter a comedic extraterrestrial alien during a road trip across the US.

His likeness was also used for the character of Wee Hughie in the comic book series The Boys; while this was done without Pegg's permission, he quickly became a fan of the title, and even wrote the introduction to the first bound volume.

[37] In May 2023, Pegg was interviewed by Lauren Laverne on the long running BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs.

[39] In 2016, Pegg spoke of having respect for Jeremy Corbyn and believing in Britain Stronger in Europe's ideas in relation to the EU.

[40] In 2020, Pegg signed an open letter calling for the wealthiest in society to pay more tax in order to help fight inequality.

[41] Pegg has been an activist for Greenpeace since 2021, protesting overfishing and supporting their "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow" campaign.

[53] In a video interview with British GQ magazine in July 2018, Pegg stated that his daughter has sung backing vocals for Coldplay onstage at the Glastonbury Festival.

In a July 2018 interview with The Guardian, Pegg spoke about his battle with depression and alcoholism, and how rehab helped him recover from the latter.