Peter Sarsgaard
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.
Born: 07 March 1971
Played In
Movie
Mar 2026
The Bride!
Jake Wiles
TV Show
Mar 2026
DTF St. Louis
'Modern Love' / Christopher Spurce
Movie
Oct 2025
Pet Shop Days
Movie
Nov 2024
September 5
Roone Arledge
Movie
Aug 2024
Coup!
Floyd Monk
TV Show
Jun 2024
Presumed Innocent
Tommasino 'Tommy' Molto
Movie
Dec 2023
Memory
Saul
Movie
Apr 2022
The Survivor
Emory Anderson
Movie
Mar 2022
The Batman
District Attorney Gil Colson
Movie
Dec 2021
The Lost Daughter
Professor Hardy
TV Show
Oct 2021
Dopesick
Rick Mountcastle
Movie
Sep 2021
The Guilty
Henry Fisher (voice)
Movie
Oct 2020
Best Summer Ever
Camera Man
Movie
Jul 2020
Human Capital
Quint Manning
TV Show
Jun 2020
Homemade
Frank
TV Show
Feb 2020
Interrogation
David Russell
Movie
Oct 2019
Mr. Jones
Walter Duranty
Movie
Sep 2019
The Sound of Silence
Peter Lucian
Movie
Sep 2018
The Lie
Jay Logan
TV Show
Feb 2018
The Looming Tower
Martin Schmidt
TV Show
Dec 2017
Wormwood
Frank Olson
Movie
Dec 2017
Loving Pablo
Shepard
Movie
Sep 2017
Wormwood
Frank Olson
Movie
Dec 2016
Jackie
Robert Kennedy
TV Show
Oct 2016
America Divided
Self
Movie
Sep 2016
The Magnificent Seven
Bartholomew Bogue
Movie
Apr 2016
Starring Austin Pendleton
Self
Movie
Oct 2015
Experimenter
Stanley Milgram
Movie
Sep 2015
Black Mass
Brian Halloran
Movie
Sep 2015
Pawn Sacrifice
Father Bill Lombardy
TV Show
Sep 2015
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
Movie
May 2015
Ladygrey
Samuel
TV Show
Feb 2015
The Slap
Hector
Movie
Sep 2014
Valley Uprising
Self - Narrator (voice)
Movie
Apr 2014
Night Moves
Harmon
TV Show
Feb 2014
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self
TV Show
Feb 2014
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self
Movie
Aug 2013
Lovelace
Chuck Traynor
Movie
Aug 2013
Blue Jasmine
Dwight
Movie
Jan 2013
Very Good Girls
Fitzsimmons
Movie
Aug 2012
Robot & Frank
Robot (voice)
Movie
Jun 2011
Green Lantern
Hector Hammond
TV Show
Apr 2011
The Killing
Ray Seward
TV Show
Nov 2010
Conan
Self
Movie
Jun 2010
Knight and Day
Fitzgerald
Movie
Jan 2010
Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
Alan Troy (archive footage)
Movie
Oct 2009
An Education
David Goldman
Movie
Oct 2009
Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children
Self
Movie
Jul 2009
Orphan
John
TV Show
Jun 2009
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
Self
Movie
Apr 2009
In the Electric Mist
Elrod Sykes
Movie
Aug 2008
Elegy
Kenneth Kepesh
Movie
Jan 2008
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Cleveland Arning
Movie
Jan 2008
Indie Sex: Teens
Movie
Sep 2007
Rendition
Alan Smith
TV Show
Aug 2007
Indie Sex
Self
Movie
Apr 2007
Year of the Dog
Newt
Movie
Jan 2007
High Falls
Pedro
Movie
Mar 2006
"Jarhead" Diaries
Self
Movie
Mar 2006
Jarhead: Background
Self
Movie
Nov 2005
Jarhead
Alan Troy
Movie
Sep 2005
Flightplan
Carson
Movie
Jul 2005
The Skeleton Key
Luke Marshall
Movie
Jan 2005
The Dying Gaul
Robert Sandrich
Movie
Sep 2004
Kinsey
Clyde Martin
Movie
Jul 2004
Garden State
Mark
Movie
Nov 2003
Shattered Glass
Charles 'Chuck' Lane
Movie
May 2003
Death of a Dynasty
Brendon III
Movie
Dec 2002
Empire
Jack
Movie
Aug 2002
Unconditional Love
Window Washer
Movie
Jul 2002
K-19: The Widowmaker
Vadim Radtchinko
Movie
Feb 2002
The Salton Sea
Jimmy the Finn
Movie
Apr 2001
The Center of the World
Richard Longman
Movie
Sep 2000
Housebound
Mignon
Movie
Aug 2000
The Cell
Julia Hickson's Fiancee (uncredited)
Movie
Sep 1999
Boys Don't Cry
John Lotter
Movie
Jun 1999
Desert Blue
Billy Baxter
Movie
Jan 1999
Freak City
Cal Jackson
Movie
Dec 1998
Another Day in Paradise
Ty
Movie
Mar 1998
The Man in the Iron Mask
Raoul
TV Show
Sep 1997
Cracker
Movie
Jul 1997
Subway Stories
Boy No. 1 (segment "Underground")
TV Show
Jul 1996
The Daily Show
Self
Movie
Dec 1995
Dead Man Walking
Walter Delacroix
TV Show
Sep 1993
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
TV Show
Sep 1990
Law & Order
Josh Strand
TV Show
Nov 1981
This Week
TV Show
Oct 1975
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host
TV Show
Oct 1975
Saturday Night Live
Self - Cameo (uncredited)
Movie
The Damning of a Country Merchant
Movie
Zero K
Movie
Road House 2
Movie
Erosion
Christian Andersen
TV Show
Neuromancer
John Ashpool