Simon Pegg's 10 Best Roles

4. Benji Dunn - Mission Impossible Franchise

The World's End Simon Pegg
Paramount Pictures

In 2004, following the success of Shaun of the Dead, Pegg was asked if he would abandon the British film industry for Hollywood. Joking, he said "It's not like we're going to go away and do, I don't know, Mission Impossible 3."

Two years later, Pegg starred in Mission Impossible 3 as the IMF technician Benji Dunn, adding espionage technology expert as well as psychic to his filmography.

Throughout the Mission Impossible movies Pegg leans into the role with textbook energy, giving us a tonally distinct character that works nicely with the other leads. As a balance to the far more serious tone of Tom Cruise, Pegg's performance gives the films an element of well paced levity.

As the series progressed we see Pegg's role expand into a much more physical one, switching from the man-in-the-van position to a far more hands-on approach. Never quite matching the medically concerning deeds of Tom Cruise, we're still treated to a suite of stunts that put the fence-jumping of the Cornetto Trilogy to shame.

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My passion for all things Sci Fi goes back to my earliest days, when old VHS copies of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet gripped my tiny mind with their big, noisy vehicles and terrifying puppets. I'd like to say my taste got more refined over the years, but between the Warhammer, Space Dandy and niche Star Wars EU books, perhaps it just got broader. I've enjoyed games of all calibre since I figured out that dice weren't just for eating, and have written prose ever since I was left unsupervised with some crayons next to a white wall. I got away with it by calling it "schoolwork" for as long as I could, and university helped me keep the charade going a while longer. Since my work began to get published, it's made all those long hours repainting the walls seem worth it.