Born March 28, 1972, in Essex, England, Nick Frost was an aspiring comedian working as a waiter in a Mexican restaurant when he was introduced through a mutual friend to Simon Pegg, an up-and-coming comedian and actor. The two became fast friends before sharing an apartment, where Frost would go on to credit Pegg with exposing him to the films of Woody Allen and making him more cultured overall. It was during the time they lived together that Frost invented the character of Mike Watt, a “weapons expert” obsessed with the military, just to make Pegg laugh. Convinced that the character was worthy of a real show business outlet, Pegg persuaded Frost to act in his comedy series, “Spaced” (Channel 4, 1999-2001), in which he starred under young director Edgar Wright. Frost portrayed the character of Mike as a childhood friend of Pegg’s main character, Tim.
Previously, Frost had only appeared in background roles and bit parts, in such British shows as “The Bill” (1984- ) “Casualty” (BBC, 1986) and in a few episodes of Pegg’s previous series, BBC’s “Big Train” (1998-2002), where he played a construction worker, sometimes uncredited. But after “Spaced,” he found himself in high demand. In 2002, he co-hosted “Danger! 50,000 Volts,” and “Danger! Incoming Attack” (Britain’s Channel 5) – spoofs on the outdoor survival show genre. He also played a security man in an episode of “Black Books” (Channel 4, 2000-04).
It was in 2004’s “Shaun of the Dead,” where Frost was first exposed to U.S. audiences – quite literally, considering his nude scene – as the bumbling best friend Ed, of lead character Shaun, played by Pegg. The story follows Shaun’s efforts to ward of a zombie attack and win back his ex-girlfriend, all at the same time. Directed by Wright, who worked with them on “Spaced,” the film was a self-described “zom-rom-com,” or zombie-romantic-comedy. Released in the United States on the heels “Dawn of the Dead” – itself, a remake of the sequel to its inspiration, “Night of the Living Dead,” (1968) – “Shaun” was a critical success and a cult hit.
In 2005, he appeared in the flamboyant film, “Kinky Boots” and on television, went on to star in various episodes of the sketch comedy show, “Man Stroke Woman,” (BBC3, 2005-07) and appeared in small doses in the medical comedy series, “Green Wing” (Channel 4, 2004- ), as well as “Twisted Tales” (BBC, 2005) and “Look Around You” (BBC, 2002-05). He then played the starring role of Commander Henderson in the sci-fi sitcom, “Hyperdrive” (BBC, 2006- ).
In 2007, Frost worked again with Pegg and Wright for their follow-up project, “Hot Fuzz.” Inspired by the slew of U.S. action films of the 1990s by such directors as Michael Bay and Tony Scott, the film tells the story of a supercop, Nicholas, played by Pegg, who is so good that he makes the rest of the force look bad by comparison, and is demoted to a backwater division in quiet Gloucestershire. It is there, that he reluctantly partners with a bumbling cop, Danny Butterman, played by Frost. When grisly murders start to happen in the quiet rural town, the two must work together. Like their previous efforts, “Hot Fuzz” effortlessly combined both real action and characters with brilliant comedy. The film fell just short of a spoof, making it another Wright-Pegg-Frost hit with audiences and critics alike on both sides of the Atlantic.
Frost also appeared onscreen with Pegg in Wright’s fake trailer from “Grindhouse” (2007), Robert Rodriguez’ and Quentin Tarantino’s ode to 70s B movies. The trailer for their fictional movie, “Don’t” was humorously made in the spirit of British coming attractions of decades ago, eschewing dialogue to avoid turning young Americans off to English accents.