Clarke Peters
Acting • Born 1952-04-07
Biography
Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series The Wire (2002–2008) and Albert Lambreaux in the television series Treme (2010–2013). He also wrote the book for the musical revue Five Guys Named Moe (1990). Peters is also known for his roles in the films Silver Dream Racer (1980), Endgame (2009), John Wick (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Harriet (2019), and Da 5 Bloods (2020), the lattermost of which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Peters was born Peter Clarke, the second of four sons, in New York City, and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. At the age of 12, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of 14. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1970. In 1971, Peters' older brother enabled him to work as a costume designer for a production of the musical Hair in Paris, in which Peters later starred. In 1973, Peters moved to London and changed his name to Clarke Peters, because Equity already had a few namesake members. While in London, he formed a soul band, The Majestics, and worked as a backup singer on such hits as "Love and Affection" by Joan Armatrading, "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, and some David Essex songs. However, music was not Peters' main ambition, and he preferred to work in the theater. His first West End theatre musical roles, which he received with assistance from his friend Ned Sherrin, were I Gotta Shoe (1976) and Bubbling Brown Sugar (1977). Other West End credits include Blues in the Night, Porgy and Bess, The Witches of Eastwick, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, and Chess. Peters starred in the Sean Connery space Western Outland (1981) as the treacherous Sgt. Ballard, and he played an almost wordless role as Anderson, a vicious pimp in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986). Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon in the HBO series The Wire. Peters also starred in the HBO mini-series The Corner, portraying a drug addict named Fat Curt, as well as the FX series Damages, as Dave Pell. Both The Wire and The Corner were created by writer and former The Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon. Peters also stars in Simon's HBO series Treme, in the role of Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux. Peters appeared in two episodes of the American time-travel/detective TV series Life on Mars (2008) as NYPD Captain Fletcher Bellow. He also appeared in the British show Holby City, as Derek Newman, the father of nurse Donna Jackson. He voiced a part in the Doctor Who animated episode Dreamland, and in the In Plain Sight episode "Duplicate Bridge" as a man in Witness Protection named Norman Baker/Norman Danzer. In 2010, Peters read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for BBC 7. In that year, he also had a guest appearance as Professor Mark Ramsay in the pilot episode of the USA Network TV series Covert Affairs. From 2012 to 2013, Peters had a recurring role as Alonzo D. Quinn in the CBS TV series Person of Interest.
Filmography
111 credits
Mona Lisa
Movie • 1986
Anderson
Outland
Movie • 1981
Sgt. Ballard
Freedomland
Movie • 2006
Reverend Longway
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Movie • 2009
Subject #31
Marley & Me
Movie • 2008
Editor
Gigantic
Movie • 2008
Roger Stovall
The Poker House
Movie • 2008
Maurice
Cameron Mackintosh - The First 50 Years
Movie • 2021
Self
Searching for Sonny
Movie • 2011
The Narrator
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
Movie • 1998
Moe
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Movie • 2022
John Houston
Locked In
Movie • 2010
Frank
The Wire: The Last Word
Movie • 2007
Self
The Wire Odyssey
Movie • 2007
Self
Red Hook Summer
Movie • 2012
Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse
Sympathetic Details
Movie • 2008
Carson
Number on End
Movie • 1980
Yankee Billy
Red King, White Knight
Movie • 1989
Jones
Up Line
Movie • 1987
Alex du Bois
The Nicholas Brothers: We Sing and We Dance
Movie • 1992
Narrator
John Wick
Movie • 2014
Harry
The Best of Me
Movie • 2014
Morgan Dupree
The Benefactor
Movie • 2015
Dr. Romano
Sean Connery: In His Own Words
Movie • 2015
Self
Grace
Movie • 2014
Father Michael
The Music Machine
Movie • 1979
Laurie
Sexual Healing
Movie
Harvey Fuqua
Nativity!
Movie • 2009
Studio Boss
Endgame
Movie • 2009
Nelson Mandela
A Masculine Ending
Movie • 1992
Theo Sykes
Saigon: Year of the Cat
Movie • 1983
Soldier
James Brown: Soul Survivor
Movie • 2003
Chess in Concert
Movie • 2009
Walter de Courcy
Legacy
Movie • 2010
Ola Adenuga
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Movie • 2017
Abercrombie
Notting Hill
Movie • 1999
'Helix' Lead Actor
Head of State
Movie • 2003
Fundraiser Demo-Tape Man
Silver Dream Racer
Movie • 1980
Cider Jones
Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones
Movie • 2015
Roy Orbison (Voice)
The Mandela Effect
Movie • 2019
Dr. Fuchs
The Bad Education Movie
Movie • 2015
Commander Andrews
Division 19
Movie • 2017
Perelman
A Casualty of War
Movie • 1989
Grover T. Fleming
Come Away
Movie • 2020
Mad Hatter
King
Movie • 1984
Stevie
Da 5 Bloods
Movie • 2020
Otis
Facelift
Movie • 1984
Bob Jangles
Harriet
Movie • 2019
Ben Ross
Christmas Under the Stars
Movie • 2019
Clem Marshwell
An Acceptable Loss
Movie • 2019
Phillip Lamm
Rebirth in New Orleans
Movie • 2016
Narrator
Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes
Movie • 2020
Voice of Count Basie
Fats Domino and The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Movie • 2016
Narrator
Death Train
Movie • 1993
Whitlock
Letters Live from the Archive: Freemasons’ Hall
Movie • 2021
The Royale
Movie • 2021
Wynton
The Opera Game
Movie • 2019
Narrator
Tapping the Wire
Movie • 2007
Self
Turnipseed
Movie • 2009
A.B. Turnipseed
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin
Movie • 2024
Reverend Powell Sr.
BBC Proms - The Golden Age of Broadway
Movie • 2022
Singer
Bumps
Movie • 2020
Charles
K-PAX
Movie • 2001
Homeless Veteran
Murder Most Horrid
TV • 1991
American
The Wire
TV • 2002
Lester Freamon
The Professionals
TV • 1977
President Ojuka
Oz
TV • 1997
Afsana
Between the Lines
TV • 1992
The Irregulars
TV • 2021
Linen Man
The Man Who Fell to Earth
TV • 2022
Josiah Falls
Waking the Dead
TV • 2001
Howard Boorstin
Archer
TV • 2009
Popeye (voice)
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
TV • 2005
Rex da Silva
Treme
TV • 2010
Albert "Big Chief" Lambreaux
Doctor Who: Dreamland
TV • 2009
Night Eagle (voice)
Person of Interest
TV • 2011
Alonzo Quinn
The Divide
TV • 2014
Isaiah Page
Blue Bloods
TV • 2010
Nathan Anderson
American Masters
TV • 1986
Self - Narrator
Foundation
TV • 2021
Abbas
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Frank Wainwright
London Spy
TV • 2015
The American
True Detective
TV • 2014
Minister
Jericho
TV • 2016
Ralph Coates
Marvel's Jessica Jones
TV • 2015
Det. Oscar Clemons
Jonathan Creek
TV • 1997
Hewie Harper
Forever
TV • 2014
Jerry Charters
Partners in Crime
TV • 2015
Julius Hersheimmer
The Corner
TV • 2000
Fat Curt
The Blacklist: Redemption
TV • 2017
Richard Whitehall
Bulletproof
TV • 2018
Ronald Pike Snr
Testament: The Story of Moses
TV • 2024
God (voice)
Royal Crackers
TV • 2023
Deshaun (voice)
Life on Mars
TV • 2008
Captain Bellow
Chance
TV • 2016
Carl
Truelove
TV • 2024
Ken
The Big Narstie Show
TV • 2018
Self
Eric
TV • 2024
George
Damages
TV • 2007
Dave Pell
Death in Paradise
TV • 2011
Marlon Croft
Chance
TV • 2016
Carl Allan
La Fortuna
TV • 2021
Jonas Pierce
Show Me a Hero
TV • 2015
Robert Mayhawk
His Dark Materials
TV • 2019
The Master
The Boroughs
TV • 2026
Art
Small Town, Big Story
TV • 2025
Chet Donald
Towards Zero
TV • 2025
Frederick Treves
In Plain Sight
TV • 2008
Norman Baker / Norman Danzer
Meadowlands
TV • 2007
Professor Campbell
Chandler & Co
TV • 1994
Jasper
Love Is___
TV • 2018
"Wiser" Yasir