Peter Sarsgaard
Born
March 7, 1971 (54 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Belleville, Illinois, USA
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), Blue Jasmine (2013), Black Mass (2015), and The Magnificent Seven (2016). Sarsgaard also appeared in the American 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." In 2021, he had a recurring role on the Hulu miniseries Dopesick.
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.
The Bride!
2026
Coup!
Floyd Monk
2024
Memory
Saul
2023
Pet Shop Days
2023
Experimenter
Stanley Milgram
2015
Black Mass
Brian Halloran
2015
Pawn Sacrifice
Father Bill Lombardy
2015
Ladygrey
Samuel
2015
Valley Uprising
Narrator (Voice)
2014
Night Moves
Harmon
2014
Lovelace
Chuck Traynor
2013
Blue Jasmine
Dwight
2013
Very Good Girls
Fitzsimmons
2013
Robot & Frank
Robot (voice)
2012
Green Lantern
Hector Hammond
2011
Knight and Day
Fitzgerald
2010
An Education
David Goldman
2009
Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children
Self
2009
Orphan
John
2009
In the Electric Mist
Elrod Sykes
2009
Elegy
Kenneth Kepesh
2008
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Cleveland Arning
2008
Rendition
Alan Smith
2007
Year of the Dog
Newt
2007
Jarhead
Alan Troy
2005
Flightplan
Carson
2005
The Skeleton Key
Luke Marshall
2005
The Dying Gaul
Robert Sandrich
2005
Kinsey
Clyde Martin
2004
Garden State
Mark
2004
Shattered Glass
Charles 'Chuck' Lane
2003
Death of a Dynasty
Brendon III
2003
Empire
Jack
2002
Unconditional Love
Window Washer
2002
K-19: The Widowmaker
Vadim Radtchinko
2002
The Salton Sea
Jimmy the Finn
2002
The Center of the World
Richard Longman
2001
Housebound
Mignon
2000
Boys Don't Cry
John Lotter
1999
Desert Blue
Billy Baxter
1999
Freak City
Cal Jackson
1999
The Man in the Iron Mask
Raoul
1998
The Damning of a Country Merchant
September 5
Roone Arledge
2024
Presumed Innocent
Tommasino 'Tommy' Molto · (8 episodes)
2024
VENGEANCE IN THE MAKING
Self
2022
The Survivor
Emory Anderson
2022
The Batman
District Attorney Gil Colson
2022
The Lost Daughter
Professor Hardy
2021
Dopesick
Rick Mountcastle · (8 episodes)
2021
The Guilty
Henry Fisher (voice)
2021
Best Summer Ever
Camera Man
2020
Human Capital
Quint Manning
2020
Homemade
Frank · (1 episode)
2020
Interrogation
David Russell · (10 episodes)
2020
Mr. Jones
Walter Duranty
2019
The Sound of Silence
Peter Lucian
2019
The Lie
Jay Logan
2018
The Looming Tower
Martin Schmidt · (10 episodes)
2018
Wormwood
Frank Olson · (6 episodes)
2017
Wormwood
Frank Olson
2017
Loving Pablo
Shepard
2017
Jackie
Robert Kennedy
2016
America Divided
Self · (8 episodes)
2016
The Magnificent Seven
Bartholomew Bogue
2016
Starring Austin Pendleton
Self
2016
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self · (2 episodes)
2015
The Slap
Hector · (8 episodes)
2015
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self · (1 episode)
2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self · (1 episode)
2014
The Killing
Ray Seward · (12 episodes)
2011
Conan
Self · (1 episode)
2010
Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Alan Troy (archive footage)
2010
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
Self · (1 episode)
2009
Indie Sex
Self · (3 episodes)
2007
High Falls
Pedro
2007
The Cell
Julia Hickson's Fiancee (uncredited)
2000
Another Day in Paradise
Ty
1998
Cracker
(1 episode)
1997
Subway Stories
Boy No. 1 (segment "Underground")
1997
The Daily Show
Self · (1 episode)
1996
Dead Man Walking
Walter Delacroix
1995
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest · (1 episode)
1993
Law & Order
Josh Strand · (1 episode)
1990
This Week
(1 episode)
1981
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host · (1 episode)
1975
Saturday Night Live
Self - Cameo (uncredited) · (1 episode)
1975
Neuromancer
John Ashpool · (1 episode)