Simon Pegg

If you could go back in time and ask a teenage Simon Pegg where he thought he would be in the 2010s, we reckon that he would say co-owner of a comic book store with a wry smile.

Indeed, comic-fan Pegg would be ideal as a purveyor of DC and Marvel illustrated tales but fate had different things in mind for the science-fiction nut.

Lets start with Spaced. The series about two strangers who end up sharing a cheap flat in Tufnell Park that Pegg co-wrote with Jessica Stevenson was an instant hit and turned him into the sci-fi nerd for a whole new generation to love.

Mixing computer games with Star Trek references was de jour for Pegg, and the two series of Spaced led to the first of a set of films with fellow Spaced actor Nick Frost, including the 2004 name-maker film, Shaun of the Dead.

The comedy ode to zombie Bmovies is considered one of the best UK comedy films of the last decade and with it Pegg broke America - though no-one immediately knew it. The film had a low-key promotion (it was only aired at 600-odd cinemas) in the States but became a hit with DVD sales.

SOTD has formed part of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy of films, including Hot Fuzz which was released in 2007, and with the third, The World’s End, allegedly in production talks.

On completion of Shaun of the Dead he was asked if he would abandon the UK for bigger and better things, to which he replied "It's not like I'm going to run off and do Mission: Impossible III!"

Yeah, whatever. Pegg has since appeared in countless Hollywood films – including Mission Impossible III (2006), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008), Tin Tin (2011), Paul (2011) and Mission Impossible (2012). However, his most treasured role must be his casting as Scotty in the new Star Trek franchise in 2009.

The story of Simon Pegg is one of a sci-fi fan living out his dreams, and thankfully, the world is culturally richer for it.