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)