Peter Sarsgaard

At 53 years old, Peter Sarsgaard has this physical status:

John Peter Sarsgaard (born March 7, 1971) is an American actor.

His first feature role was in Dead Man Walking in 1995.

He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue.

That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), playing Raoul, the ill-fated son of Athos.

Sarsgaard later achieved critical recognition when he was cast in Boys Don't Cry (1999) as John Lotter.

He landed his first leading role in the 2001 film The Center of the World.

The following year, he played supporting roles in Empire, The Salton Sea, and K-19: The Widowmaker. For his portrayal of Charles Lane in Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sarsgaard has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy-drama Garden State, the biographical film Kinsey (2004), the drama The Dying Gaul (2005), and big-budget films such as Flightplan (2005), Jarhead (2005), The Skeleton Key (2005), Orphan (2009), An Education (2009), Knight and Day (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Lovelace (2013), Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves (2013), Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine (2013), and Black Mass (2015), and The Magnificent Seven (2016).

Sarsgaard also appeared in the U.S. TV series The Killing (2013) as a man on death row perhaps wrongfully convicted for the brutal murder of his wife—a performance which he says included "some of the best acting I have ever done in my life."Sarsgaard has appeared in Off-Broadway productions including Kingdom of Earth, Laura Dennis, Burn This, and Uncle Vanya.

In September 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in The Seagull.

He is married to actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Early life

John Peter Sarsgaard was born at Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois, on March 7, 1971, the son of Judy Lea (née Reinhardt) and John Dale Sarsgaard. His father was an Air Force engineer and later worked for Monsanto and IBM. His surname originates in Denmark, where his paternal great-great-grandparents were born; it is pronounced [ˈsɑːsɡɔˀ] in Danish.

Sarsgaard was raised a Catholic and served as an altar boy. His family moved more than 12 times during his childhood, following his father's job. At the age of 7, Sarsgaard originally wanted to become a soccer player and took up ballet to help improve his coordination. After suffering several concussions while playing soccer, he gave up the sport and became interested in writing and theater. He attended Fairfield College Preparatory School, a private Jesuit boys' school in Connecticut, where he became interested in film.

Following his graduation from Fairfield Prep in 1989, he attended Bard College in New York for two years before transferring to Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) in 1991, where he co-founded an improvisational comedy troupe "Mama's Pot Roast". While at WUSTL, Sarsgaard began performing in plays in an offshoot of New York's Actors Studio; His first role was as the servant Laurent in Molière's Tartuffe. In 1993, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and moved to New York.

Personal life

In an interview with The New York Times, Sarsgaard stated that he followed Catholicism, saying: "I like the death-cult aspect of Catholicism. Every religion is interested in death, but Catholicism takes it to a particularly high level. [...] Seriously, in Catholicism, you're supposed to love your enemy. That really impressed me as a kid, and it has helped me as an actor. [...] The way that I view the characters I play is part of my religious upbringing. To abandon curiosity in all personalities, good or bad, is to give up hope in humanity."

Among his most notable romantic relationships, Sarsgaard dated burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and model and actress Shalom Harlow. Early in his film career, he dated photographer Malerie Marder, a close friend from his days attending Bard College, who had featured Sarsgaard in some of her early work.

Sarsgaard began a romantic relationship with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, the sister of his close friend Jake Gyllenhaal, in 2002. In April 2006, they announced their engagement, and on May 2, 2009, they married in a small ceremony in Brindisi, Italy. They have two daughters: Ramona (born October 3, 2006) and Gloria Ray (born April 19, 2012).

Sarsgaard is vegan, but he says he cooks meat for his children.

In June 2013, Sarsgaard and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning.

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Career

Sarsgaard has worked in television shows shot in New York City, including Law & Order in 1995 and New York Undercover (1997), as well as an appearance in the 1997 HBO special Subway Stories. He appeared in his first film role in Dead Man Walking (1995), where he was depicted as a homicide victim portrayed by Sean Penn's character.

Sarsgaard made his theatrical debut in Horton Foote's Laura Dennis' Off-Broadway production, directed by James Houghton in 1995. "Mr. Sarsgaard emerges as an actor to watch with a show of utterly emotional conviction," Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote. He appeared in Kingdom of Earth opposite Cynthia Nixon and directed by John Cameron Mitchell in the following year. Critics praised his role in the play.

His next film appearances were in another day in Paradise (1997), as part of an ensemble cast starring James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, and Natasha Gregson Wagner, and In Desert Blue (1998), where he appeared as a supporting role. He appeared in The Man in the Iron Mask, the ill-fated son of John Malkovich's dueling Musketeer, Athos, in 1998. The film is based on some plot elements of Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances, and is very loosely adapted from some of the Vicomte de Bragelonne's plot elements. The film received ambivalent feedback, but it was a hit at the box office, grossing $182 million worldwide.

Sarsgaard received critical esteem in Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry, in which he was cast as notorious killer John Lotter. The film is based on Lotter and Tom Nissen's true story of Brandon Teena, who was assaulted and killed in 1993 after they learned that he was a trans man. Boys Don't Cry was widely praised by analysts, and his results were particularly well received. "Peter Sarsgaard... makes the killer's trajectory not only credible, but also grounded in the most common clodhopper behaviour," The Boston Globe reports. He isn't a drooling monster; he's a guy you don't want to look twice at a bar or a convenience store." "It's a marvelous job, aided a lot by... Sarsgaard, as the elusive, sociopathic Lotter," a Seattle Times reporter said. At a special screening at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, the film was shown for the first time. Sarsgaard made him "likeable, sympathetic even" in terms of his character, because he wanted the audience to know why they should hang out with me. If my character wasn't particularly likable, I wanted him to be charismatic enough that you wouldn't have a dull time with him." Sarsgaard said in another interview that playing Lotter made him feel "empowered."

He appeared in the 2001 film The Center of the World, where he portrays Richard Longman, a lonely young entrepreneur who declines out on his company's big initial public offering and pays a stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to fly Las Vegas with him. The film received average reviews, but A.O. did not. Both Sarsgaard and Parker's performances "provide a rough measure of authenticity," Scott of the New York Times reported, portraying people in their 20s' lack of material abundance and impoverished emotional stability. Sarsgaard's reputation, according to Scott, was "likely good guy" who was too young to recognize the sleaziness of his Rome contract.

Sarsgaard appeared in three films in 2002, including K-19: The Widowmaker, Empire, and The Salton Sea. He portrayed a young Russian navy lieutenant in K-19: The Widowmaker. The film's budget was $100 million to make, but it later revealed that it earned $35 million in the United States and $30 million worldwide, naming it as a box office setback. His next role was in Empire, a crime drama in which he was cast as a supporting role. Sarsgaard lived in The Salton Sea, a drug addict in Washington, D. J. Caruso. Sarsgaard appeared in a New York production of Lanford Wilson's Burn This, where he replaced Edward Norton.

Sarsgaard's career came to an end in 2003 when he appeared in Shattered Glass. The lead editor of The New Republic, Charles Lane, was depicted by him. Shattered Glass is based on journalist Stephen Glass' life in the mid-1990s and his fall as his widespread journalistic fraud is revealed. Sarsgaard's portrayal of Lane was particularly touching during the film's premiere: "I just wanted to get his perspective on the real life." [...] I think I showed some love for myself, and in this way you're honoring the person you're playing. I've done it a number of times. And it's always a little bit confusing. To avoid the fact that you're playing someone who is a real-life character, I believe it's the best thing to do. "Peter Sarsgaard is a stolid straight-shooter as Lane," the San Diego Union-Tribune says. Sarsgaard plays Lane with "great subtlety and grace," according to a Chicago Tribune reporter. "The actor doesn't seethe with personal anger; if he does, he gives a much deeper sense of a man's value system being broken past the breaking point." Sarsgaard's role in the film earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination and a National Spirit Award nomination.

Sarsgaard appeared in many roles after the success of Shattered Glass. He appeared in Garden State, where he played Mark, the sarcastic best friend to Zach Braff's character. In the biographical film Kinsey, a film about Alfred Kinsey starring Liam Neeson, Sarsgaard portrayed Clyde Martin in the same year. Sarsgaard's first film role starred full frontal nudity was Kinsey. Sarsgaard's Clyde Martin "stands out" and "confirms that he is without question one of the best character actors of his time," CNN's Paul Clinton said. Sarsgaard told us about his kissing scenes with Neeson in Kinsey: "Italy" was the case.

Sarsgaard starred in The Dying Gaul, where he plays Robert Sandrich, a struggling screenwriter who has written a serious love tale about a man and his terminally ill spouse. The film received laudatory feedback. Sarsgaard said in an interview that he seemed to be playing a character based on Craig Lucas, the director, who cites himself as "elitist in a fun way." "The conflict seems to be larger because his character, a screenwriter, also "elitist," as he sacrifices his soul by compromising his artistic vision. Anyone can sell their soul. And people with integrity. There's always the temptation to protect against. Which is why it's best to keep as much as possible under wraps.

He appeared in The Skeleton Key and Robert Schwentke's Flightplan, as well as in 2005. Sarsgaard played an air marshall in the latter film, and he was ordered to be aware of Jodie Foster's character. At the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in 2005, a flightplan was shown at a special screening. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a financial success, grossing $223 million worldwide, making it the film's highest-grossing film to date. Jarhead (2005), opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, was Sarsgaard's next film. The film is based on Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir of the same name.

Sarsgaard hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) on January 21, 2006. Despite his often macabre roles, he tried to make out that he was a kind guy in his introduction monologue. Sarsgaard's scaring the SNL cast was then extended to video clips. One sketch featured the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) global scare, which was still fresh in some minds, and one of the skits featured a naming of facemasks.

In 2007, he appeared in Year of the Dog and Rendition supporting roles. Year of the Dog is a dark comedy starring Molly Shannon who discovers that animals are the only thing she can rely on. Sarsgaard's role as Shannon's love interest is evident. In Rendition, a Gavin Hood-directed political drama about the US policy of extraordinary rendition, he appeared alongside Meryl Sterp, Alan Arkin, Reese Witherspoon, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Sarsgaard was selected one of Salon.com's Sexiest Man Living in 2007. Sarsgaard appeared in the drama Elegy, based on a Phillip Roth book, The Dying Animal. Amongst critics, the film received a warm reception.

Sarsgaard made his Broadway debut at Anton Chekhov's The Seagull (2008) starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Mackenzie Crook, and Carey Mulligan. Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin, a tortured writer who leads a competitor to suicide and a young lover to ruin, is the subject of the film. Sarsgaard had to speak in a British accent, and he wanted it to be "less liked by an American audience" for the role.

Sarsgaard appeared alongside Jon Foster and Sienna Miller in the comedy The Mysteries of Pittsburgh in 2009. It's an adaptation of Michael Chabon's book of the same name. Sarsgaard plays Cleveland, Miller's rebellious bisexual boyfriend. At the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the Mysteries of Pittsburgh premiered. His new film appearance was in Orphanage, where he and Vera Farmiga play a married couple who lose a baby and adopt a nine-year-old teen, who is not as innocent as she appears to be. In addition, Sarsgaard appeared as David in Lone Scherfig's coming of age film An Education in the same year. Sarsgaard had to speak in a British accent due to the position. Critics lauded An Education's achievement. "Sarsgaard... superbly articulates the savoir faire that has such an affect on Jenny [Carey Mulligan]," according to Variety.

In the Classic Stage Company's 2009 off-Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in New York City, Sarsgaard played Mikhail Lvovich Astrovich Astrov, a country doctor and scholar. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mamie Gummer, Denis O'Hare, and George Morfogen were among the cast members. On January 17, the production, directed by Austin Pendleton, opened previews and then ended on March 1 with a limited run. The New York Daily News' Joe Dziemianowicz praised the show one out of four actors, but the writer praised his appearance, noting that Sarsgaard does a "credible job as the doctor." "Sarsgaard can't find the right tempi or emphases, shutting between colorless rattle and silence-studded rallentandos, he loses at both infectious energy and self-effacing charm," he wrote in a Bloomberg analysis of Uncle Vanya. Sarsgaard appeared in the action comedy film Knight and Day, which was released in June 2010, in which he appeared alongside Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

Sarsgaard will appear in Chekhov's play Three Sisters in May 2010. Sarsgaard was reunited with Uncle Vanya producer Austin Pendleton in January 2011. Sarsgaard had been cast as villain Hector Hammond in the 2010 film Green Lantern, and it was revealed in February that it had been confirmed. In 2011, the film was first released in 2011. Sarsgaard appeared in a 2015 Classic Stage Company production of Hamlet in the title role. Blue Jasmine (2013), Jackie (2016), The Lost Daughter (2021), directed by his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal, and The Batman (2022) are among the sequels. Sarsgaard appeared in the American television series The Killing (2013) as a man on death row possibly wrongfully convicted of the brutal murder of his wife's wife, which included "some of the best acting I've ever seen in my life." The Looming Tower and the Looming Tower. He was nominated for his role in the Dopesick miniseries in 2021.

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