Peter SarsgaardBirth Place: Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, USA Date of Birth: March 7, 1971 Heritage: American Famous for: His role as John Lotter in 'Boys Don't Cry' (1999) Contact Peter Sarsgaard | 
|
|
Shattered Glass Background: American film and stage actor Peter Sarsgaard gained worldwide recognition thanks to his scene stealing portrayal of journalist Charles Lane on the film “Shattered Glass” (2003). The role also won him a Boston Society of Film Critics Award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, a Las Palmas Film Festival Award, an Online Film Critics Society Award, a San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, a Toronto Film Critics Association Award, a National Society of Film Critics Award and a Seattle Film Critics Award as well as nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards and Golden Globes. He received further acclaimed in “Kinsey” (2004), from which he netted his second Independent Spirit nomination, “Garden State” (2004), “Jarhead” (2005) and “An Education” (2009). Sarsgaard made his feature film acting debut in 1995's “Dead Man Walking” before enjoying critical success on Kimberly Peirce's “Boys Don't Cry” (1999), where he played the tormenter and rapist, John Lotter. He went on to get his first leading role in the 2001 film “The Center of the World.” On stage, Sarsgaard made his Broadway debut in “The Seagull” in 2008. He has appeared in off Broadway productions such as “ Kingdom of Earth,” “ Laura Dennis,” “Burn This” and “Uncle Vanya.” Sarsgaard has one child with his wife actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, whom he married in 2009. His love life has been linked to burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, model and actress Shalom Harlow and photographer Malerie Marder.
Childhood and Family: John Peter Sarsgaard, who would later be popular as Peter Sarsgaard, was born on March 7, 1971, in Scott Air Force Base, near Belleville, Illinois, where his father was an Air Force engineer and later worked for Monsanto and IBM. He was raised an only child in a Catholic household and had to move several times throughout his upbringing because of his father's job. Young Sarsgaard originally was inspired to become a soccer player and took up ballet to help improve his coordination. After enduring many bad injuries while playing soccer, he abandoned the sport and turned his attention to writing and later theater. Sarsgaard enrolled at Fairfield College Preparatory School,a private Jesuit boys' school in Fairfield, Connecticut, in which he developed an interest in films. After graduating, he spent two years at Bard College in New York before transferring to Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, from which he received Bachelors of Arts in History. While at Washington University, he started performing on stage and co-founded an improvisational comedy troupe called Mama's Pot Roast. He also trained at T. Schreiber Studio in New York. Sarsgaard began dating actress Maggie Gyllenhaal in 2002, and they were engaged later in 2006. Their daughter, Ramona Sarsgaard, was born on October 3, 2006. The couple married on May 2, 2009, in a small ceremony in Brindisi, Italy. The family currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Career: Peter Sarsgaard made his professional stage debut in the Off-Broadway production of Horton Foote's “Laura Dennis” (1995), which was staged by James Houghton. He followed it up with an admirable starring turn opposite Cynthia Nixon in “Kingdom of Earth” (1996), under the direction of John Cameron Mitchell. Sarsgaard quickly branched out to television with guest spots in “Law & Order” (1995, as Josh Strand) and “New York Undercover” (1997) as well as an appearance in the HBO special “SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground” (1997). He had his feature film debut in the critically acclaim and commercially successful prison drama “Dead Man Walking” (1995), which was directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. There he played played a murdered teenager named Walter Delacroix, who was killed by Penn's character. After his debut in “Dead Man Walking,” Sarsgaard appeared in gritty independent features such as Larry Clark's “Another Day in Paradise” (1998), along with James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser and Natasha Gregson Wagner, and Morgan J Freeman's “In Desert Blue” (1998), starring Brendan Sexton III, Kate Hudson, Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert, Christina Ricci and John Heard. His first significant role came when he was cast as John Malkovich's son and Leonardo DiCaprio's rival, Raoul, on the British/American historical movie “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1998), which was directed, written and produced by Randall Wallace. The film was a box office success despite earning a rather mixed to negative critical response. In 1999, Sarsgaard gained his breakthrough role in Kimberly Peirce's critically acclaimed movie, “Boys Don't Cry,” a dramatization of the real life story of a transgender man, Brandon Teena, who quests for a relationship with a young woman, and is beaten, raped and murdered by his male friends after they discover he is anatomically female. Playing John Lotter, Lana's attractive former boyfriend and the man responsible for Teena's rape and murder, the actor received wide praise for his performance. The same year, he also played an institutionalized quadriplegic named Cal Jackson in the Showtime drama “Freak City,” opposite Samantha Mathis, Natalie Cole and Marlee Matlin, and an appeared in an episode of “Cracker: Mind Over Murder” called “The Club.” Entering the new millennium, Sarsgaard landed an uncredited part as Julia Hickso (played by Tara Subkoff)'s fiancee in the popular psychological thriller “The Cell” (2000), which starred Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn, and co-starred with Katharina Wressnig in the independent thriller “Housebound” (2000), which was written and directed by Mari Kornhauser, before getting his first leading role in Wayne Wang's movie “The Center of the World” (2001), in which he portrayed a lonesome young entrepreneur who hires a drummer/stripper to stay with him in Las Vegas for three days for US$10,000. His performance in the film received good response from critics. In the following year, Sarsgaard was cast as Val Kilmer best friend, a meth addict named Jimmy the Finn, in D.J. Caruso's “The Salton Sea,” starred with John Leguizamo in the gangster movie “Empire,” which was helmed by Franc. Reyes, portrayed a young Russian navy lieutenan in Kathryn Bigelow's “K-19: The Widowmaker,” opposite Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, and teamed up with Kathy Bates, Rupert Everett and Meredith Eaton in P.J. Hogan's comedy film, “Unconditional Love.” Still in 2002, Sarsgaard revisited his theater roots by co-starring with Elizabeth Shue in an Off Broadway production of Lanford Wilson's “Burn This.” Following a small role in “Death of a Dynasty” (2003), which was directed by Damon Dash, Sarsgaard enjoyed an important career boost when he was cast as journalist Charles 'Chuck' Lane in “Shattered Glass” (2003), which is based on the real events of the career of journalist Stephen Glass at The New Republic during the mid-1990s and his fall when his widespread journalistic fraud is uncovered. Written and directed by Billy Ray, the film earned critical acclaim though it was not a success at the box office. Sarsgaard's performance was critically applauded, and he was awarded the Best Supporting Actor Awards at various galas such as the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the Las Palmas Film Festival Awards, the Online Film Critics Society Awards, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, the National Society of Film Critics Awards and the Seattle Film Critics Awards. He also received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, the Chlotrudis Awards and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards. In 2004, Sarsgaard portrayed the sardonic best friend to Zach Braff's character in the well received comedy/drama “Garden State,” the directorial debut of Braff. The role brought the actor a Stockholm Film Festival for Best Actor and a Golden Satellite nomination in the category of Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical. Later that same year, he played researcher Clyde Martin on the biographical movie “Kinsey,” starring Liam Neeson as Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research. For his fine acting, Sarsgaard received a Chlotrudis for Best Supporting Actor, a Glitter for Best Supporting Actor, an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Supporting Actor, an Online Film Critics Society nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama, and Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics Choice nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2005, Sarsgaard was cast as a bisexual screenwriter in the drama film “The Dying Gaul,” which was written and helmed by Craig Lucas, played lawyer Luke Marshall on Iain Softley's supernatural horror film, “The Skeleton Key,” opposite Kate Hudsona nd Gena Rowlands, and was cast portrayed air marshal Gene Carson in Robert Schwentke's thrilelr, “Flightplan,” with Jodie Foster. The same year, he also was cast as Jack Gyllenhaal's friend and spotter, Alan Troy, in Sam Mendes' “Jarhead,” which was adapted from former Marine Anthony Swofford's best selling Gulf War memoir of the same name. Sarsgaard was nominated for a Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama and a Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Role for his performance. Next up for Sarsgaard, he co-starred with Reese Witherspoon in “Rendition,” a 2007 drama film directed by Gavin Hood, with Molly Shannon, Laura Dern, Regina King, Tom McCarthy, Josh Pais, John C. Reilly in the Mike White comedy/drama film “Year of the Dog” (2007), where he played an asexual activist, with Jon Foster and Sienna Miller in the based on novel “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” (2008) and with Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson in Isabel Coixet's “Elegy” (2008). 2008 saw Sarsgaard make his Broadway debut in an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's “The Seagull” at the Royal Court Theatre. In the production, he played Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, a punished writer who drives a rival to suicide and a young lover to ruin. Co-stars in the show included Kristin Scott Thomas, Mackenzie Crook and Carey Mulligan. He followed it up with a turn as Mikhail Lvovich Astrov, a country doctor and philosopher, in the Classic Stage Company's Off-Broadway production of Chekhov's “Uncle Vanya” (2009), which was directed by Austin Pendleton. The cast also included Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mamie Gummer, Denis O'Hare, and George Morfogen. Back to the big screen, Sarsgaard was cast as David, the charming Jewish conman who seduces Jenny, in the British coming-of-age drama film “An Education” (2009), from which he shared a 2010 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, co-starred with Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman in “In the Electric Mist” (2009), and portrayed Vera Farmiga's husband in the psychological thriller “Orphan” (2009), for director Jaume Collet-Serra. He supported Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in the action/comedy “Knight and Day” (2010) and played villain Hector Hammond on the superhero film “Green Lantern” (2011), which is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Sarsgaard is set to play roles in the upcoming drama films “Night Moves” (2012), directed and written by Kelly Reichardt, and “Very Good Girls” (2012) for Naomi Foner.
|
|
|
