Peter Sarsgaard
Acting • Born 1971-03-07
Biography
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.
Filmography
91 credits
Jarhead
Movie • 2005
Alan Troy
Boys Don't Cry
Movie • 1999
John Lotter
Garden State
Movie • 2004
Mark
Pet Shop Days
Movie • 2025
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Movie • 2008
Cleveland Arning
Kinsey
Movie • 2004
Clyde Martin
Orphan
Movie • 2009
John
Rendition
Movie • 2007
Alan Smith
The Salton Sea
Movie • 2002
Jimmy the Finn
An Education
Movie • 2009
David Goldman
Elegy
Movie • 2008
Kenneth Kepesh
K-19: The Widowmaker
Movie • 2002
Vadim Radtchinko
The Center of the World
Movie • 2001
Richard Longman
The Man in the Iron Mask
Movie • 1998
Raoul
Flightplan
Movie • 2005
Carson
Empire
Movie • 2002
Jack
The Skeleton Key
Movie • 2005
Luke Marshall
Shattered Glass
Movie • 2003
Charles 'Chuck' Lane
Year of the Dog
Movie • 2007
Newt
The Dying Gaul
Movie • 2005
Robert Sandrich
In the Electric Mist
Movie • 2009
Elrod Sykes
Desert Blue
Movie • 1999
Billy Baxter
Knight and Day
Movie • 2010
Fitzgerald
Green Lantern
Movie • 2011
Hector Hammond
Unconditional Love
Movie • 2002
Window Washer
The Damning of a Country Merchant
Movie
Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children
Movie • 2009
Self
Very Good Girls
Movie • 2013
Fitzsimmons
Robot & Frank
Movie • 2012
Robot (voice)
Lovelace
Movie • 2013
Chuck Traynor
Night Moves
Movie • 2014
Harmon
The Bride!
Movie • 2026
Jake Wiles
Blue Jasmine
Movie • 2013
Dwight
Freak City
Movie • 1999
Cal Jackson
Memory
Movie • 2023
Saul
Pawn Sacrifice
Movie • 2015
Father Bill Lombardy
Death of a Dynasty
Movie • 2003
Brendon III
Housebound
Movie • 2000
Mignon
Experimenter
Movie • 2015
Stanley Milgram
Black Mass
Movie • 2015
Brian Halloran
Ladygrey
Movie • 2015
Samuel
Dead Man Walking
Movie • 1995
Walter Delacroix
Coup!
Movie • 2024
Floyd Monk
Valley Uprising
Movie • 2014
Narrator (Voice)
Jackie
Movie • 2016
Robert Kennedy
The Magnificent Seven
Movie • 2016
Bartholomew Bogue
The Cell
Movie • 2000
Julia Hickson's Fiancee (uncredited)
Another Day in Paradise
Movie • 1998
Ty
High Falls
Movie • 2007
Pedro
September 5
Movie • 2024
Roone Arledge
Loving Pablo
Movie • 2017
Shepard
Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Movie • 2010
Alan Troy (archive footage)
Wormwood
Movie • 2017
Frank Olson
Mr. Jones
Movie • 2019
Walter Duranty
Starring Austin Pendleton
Movie • 2016
Self
The Lie
Movie • 2018
Jay Logan
The Sound of Silence
Movie • 2019
Peter Lucian
Human Capital
Movie • 2020
Quint Manning
The Survivor
Movie • 2022
Emory Anderson
The Batman
Movie • 2022
District Attorney Gil Colson
Subway Stories
Movie • 1997
Boy No. 1 (segment "Underground")
Best Summer Ever
Movie • 2020
Camera Man
The Lost Daughter
Movie • 2021
Professor Hardy
The Guilty
Movie • 2021
Henry Fisher (voice)
Zero K
Movie
Road House 2
Movie
Indie Sex: Teens
Movie • 2008
Erosion
Movie
Christian Andersen
This Week
TV • 1981
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Guest
Cracker
TV • 1997
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
TV • 2009
Self
The Killing
TV • 2011
Ray Seward
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
The Slap
TV • 2015
Hector
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self
America Divided
TV • 2016
Self
Wormwood
TV • 2017
Frank Olson
The Looming Tower
TV • 2018
Martin Schmidt
Law & Order
TV • 1990
Josh Strand
Indie Sex
TV • 2007
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV • 2014
Self
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Cameo (uncredited)
Interrogation
TV • 2020
David Russell
Presumed Innocent
TV • 2024
Tommasino 'Tommy' Molto
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
Homemade
TV • 2020
Frank
Dopesick
TV • 2021
Rick Mountcastle
Conan
TV • 2010
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Neuromancer
TV
John Ashpool