Peter Sarsgaard
- Actor
- Producer
Boyish-looking Peter Sarsgaard was born on March 7, 1971, at Scott Air Force Base, in Bellville, Illinois, to Judy Lea
(Reinhardt) and John Dale Sarsgaard, an engineer who worked for the Air
Force and later Monsanto and IBM. He is a graduate of St. Louis' Washington University, where he
majored in history and literature.
Initially trained with the Actors' Studio in New York, Peter began in comedy and became a co-founder of the comedy
improvisational group Mama's Pot Roast. Such off-Broadway productions included
Horton Foote's "Laura Dennis" and
John Cameron Mitchell's "Kingdom
of Earth."
He made his screen debut in
Tim Robbins'
Dead Man Walking (1995) and was
given more sizable roles in
Desert Blue (1998) and
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998),
as the ill-fated son of the Musketeer Athos, played by
John Malkovich. Peter then started
gracing the art-house circuit, making a violent, searing impression as
a homophobic killer in
Boys Don't Cry (1999) starring
two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as a
trans-gendered teen.
Other impressionable offbeat roles for Peter that have thrilled critics
from coast to coast include
Shattered Glass (2003), which
earned him a slew of awards including the prestigious National Society
of Film Critics Award. Prior to that, he showed off his versatility
with portrayals ranging from a Russian nuclear reactor officer in
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
to a drug addict in
The Salton Sea (2002). Other
heralded performances include
Garden State (2004) and, notably,
Kinsey (2004).
On TV, Peter appeared in recurring/regular roles in several critically applauded series and mini-series including The Killing (2011), The Slap (2015), Wormwood (2017) (as ill-fated Army scientist Frank Olson), The Looming Tower (2018) and Running Naked in the Universe (2019). More recent films include Knight and Day (2010), the villain in the DC Comics entry Green Lantern (2011), the Woody Allen drama Blue Jasmine (2013), Experimenter (2015), Jackie (2016) (as Bobby Kennedy), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Loving Pablo (2017), The Sound of Silence (2019) and Human Capital (2019).
In 2009, Sarsgaard married actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and have two children. He co-starred in the movie she wrote and directed -- The Lost Daughter (2021) starring Olivia Colman.
(Reinhardt) and John Dale Sarsgaard, an engineer who worked for the Air
Force and later Monsanto and IBM. He is a graduate of St. Louis' Washington University, where he
majored in history and literature.
Initially trained with the Actors' Studio in New York, Peter began in comedy and became a co-founder of the comedy
improvisational group Mama's Pot Roast. Such off-Broadway productions included
Horton Foote's "Laura Dennis" and
John Cameron Mitchell's "Kingdom
of Earth."
He made his screen debut in
Tim Robbins'
Dead Man Walking (1995) and was
given more sizable roles in
Desert Blue (1998) and
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998),
as the ill-fated son of the Musketeer Athos, played by
John Malkovich. Peter then started
gracing the art-house circuit, making a violent, searing impression as
a homophobic killer in
Boys Don't Cry (1999) starring
two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as a
trans-gendered teen.
Other impressionable offbeat roles for Peter that have thrilled critics
from coast to coast include
Shattered Glass (2003), which
earned him a slew of awards including the prestigious National Society
of Film Critics Award. Prior to that, he showed off his versatility
with portrayals ranging from a Russian nuclear reactor officer in
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
to a drug addict in
The Salton Sea (2002). Other
heralded performances include
Garden State (2004) and, notably,
Kinsey (2004).
On TV, Peter appeared in recurring/regular roles in several critically applauded series and mini-series including The Killing (2011), The Slap (2015), Wormwood (2017) (as ill-fated Army scientist Frank Olson), The Looming Tower (2018) and Running Naked in the Universe (2019). More recent films include Knight and Day (2010), the villain in the DC Comics entry Green Lantern (2011), the Woody Allen drama Blue Jasmine (2013), Experimenter (2015), Jackie (2016) (as Bobby Kennedy), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Loving Pablo (2017), The Sound of Silence (2019) and Human Capital (2019).
In 2009, Sarsgaard married actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and have two children. He co-starred in the movie she wrote and directed -- The Lost Daughter (2021) starring Olivia Colman.