John Peter Sarsgaard was born on 7 March 1971, in St. Clair County, Illinois USA, of part-Danish ancestry, and is an actor, best known from appearing in various popular films, such as “The Man in the Iron Mask”, “Shattered Glass”, and “The Magnificent Seven”. He’s been active since 1995, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Peter Sarsgaard? As of early-2018, sources estimate a net worth that is at $15 million, mostly earned through a successful career in acting. He’s been nominated for numerous awards and has also participated in various stage productions. As he continues his career, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Peter Sarsgaard Net Worth $15 million
At a young age, Peter’s family moved around a lot due to his father’s work as an engineer in the US Air Force. He originally wanted to become a soccer player, and took ballet lessons to help his coordination, however, he suffered multiple concussions as a soccer player which led him to stop the sport.. He attended Fairfield College Preparatory School and during his time there, became interested in film, so he transitioned to theatre and writing After matriculating, he attended Bard College for two years then moved to Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), where he was instrumental in launching an improvisational comedy troupe, and also started performing on stage, debuting in a production of “Tartuffe”. In 1993, he graduated with a degree in history, and moved to New York shortly afterwards.
Sarsgaard started off appearing as a guest in various television series, such as “Law & Order” and “New York Undercover”. In 1995 he appeared in his first film entitled “Dead Man Walking”, in which he played a murdered teenager. He continued with more projects over the next few years which would increase his net worth, including “Desert Blue” and “The Man in the Iron Mask”, which proved to be a box office hit. In 1999, Sarsgaard earned critical acclaim when he played the role of John Lotter in the film “Boys Don’t Cry”, based on a true story, and the film was well received. This eventually led him to his first leading role in “The Center of the World” which also attracted positive reviews. He continued in more films in 2002, such as “Empire” and “The Salton Sea”, steadily building his reputation and net worth..
The following year, Peter became a part of the film “Shattered Glass”, in which he played the role of Charles Lane – the film is another project based on real life events, and his performance earned him several award nominations, and his net worth would increase significantly thanks to the success of the film. He then appeared in the films “Garden State” and “Kinsey”, followed in 2005 by starring in the film “The Dying Gaul”, all of which continued to bring him good reviews. He then had roles in films such as “The Skeleton Key” and “Flightplan”, and the following year he became a host of “Saturday Night Live”, before engaging in more supporting roles in films such as “Year of the Dog”. In 2009 he starred in the drama “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” which is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Chabon, and was also cast in the films “An Education” and “Knight and Day”, appearing alongside Tom Cruise. He also did consistent stage work during this time.
For his personal life, it is known that Sarsgaard married actress Maggie Gyllenhaal in 2009 and they have two daughters. Maggie is the sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal who is Sarsgaard’s close friend. He also previously had relationships with dancer Dita Von Teese and actress Shalom Harlow. Sarsgaard has also mentioned that his is Catholic and that he is vegan, but cooks meat for his children.
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominations
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Tele...
Movies
Orphan, Jackie, The Magnificent Seven, Green Lantern
TV Shows
The Slap, The Killing
#
Trademark
1
Often takes supporting roles instead of headlining a picture, whereby his character is friend to the main character in the film (Kinsey (2004), Shattered Glass (2003), Garden State (2004), Jarhead (2005)).
In my first scene in any movie ever, Sean Penn dragged me out to a swamp, threw me down in the mud, raped and killed me and my girlfriend. We did the scene, we took a shower, put on new clothes and did the scene again. All night long. And that was my big break.
2
[on Sean Penn taking him out to dinner during the making of his first film, Dead Man Walking (1995)] It was a sort of I'm-going-to-rape-you-and-we-should-get-to-know-one-another meal. I thought that was nice, and I've tried to extend the same courtesy to my co-stars, especially if I'm going to kill or rape them.
3
I'm very much against the death penalty. It's very easy to do a piece about someone who's been railroaded by the system, who's innocent. If you don't believe in the death penalty, you have to take an extreme circumstance - someone who's indefensible - to see if it still applies. Otherwise the death penalty applies in some cases.
4
Seriously, in Catholicism, you're supposed to love your enemy. That really impressed me as a kid, and it has helped me as an actor. I don't believe there are bad people. Just people who do bad things. The way that I view the characters I play is part of my religious upbringing. To abandon curiosity in all personalities, good or bad, is to give up hope in humanity. Like somebody who is mumbling on the street - I'm always curious if his words make any sense. I'm interested in lost souls. They possess another sort of secret. (Explaining how his religious upbringing influences his choices as an actor, 2005.)
5
When people say, 'The movie sucked, but you didn't'; that means you didn't swing hard enough. You bunted. If the movie goes down, I want to go down with it.
6
On his role as a marine in Jarhead (2005): There's a quality my character has about not caving in to the physical or mental demands of your job. I really took that to heart. A lot of my relatives have served, and I have respect for what it means to be a soldier. These guys are carrying a very heavy burden. We joke about marines being strict and severe, but would you want a bunch of hippies running around with guns?.
7
When you don't have power, which I still don't in the grand Hollywood scheme of things, you get offered things that you wouldn't ordinarily be offered. Frequently, other people know what I can do more than I do.
8
If you go in and audition for roles rather than just be offered them, then you kind of get a chance to kind of discover that you can do something that you didn't think you could do.
9
"I just pick the best roles that are left over, and they usually aren't the heterosexual, leading-man, non-drug-addict parts. And once you get into doing them, people know you do them." - On his wide range of offbeat parts.
#
Fact
1
Appearing on Broadway as Trigorin in "The Seagull." [October 2008]
Is friends with ultra marathon champion Scott Jurek.
4
Is an avid runner. Runs 50-60 miles per week.
5
His paternal grandfather was of half Danish and half Norwegian descent. His other ancestry includes German, Austrian, Ulster-Scots (Scots-Irish), English, and Irish. His surname originates in Denmark.
6
Became a father for the 2nd time at age 41 when his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter Gloria Ray Sarsgaard on April 19, 2012.
7
Became a father for the 1st time at age 35 when his fiancée [now wife] Maggie Gyllenhaal gave birth to their daughter Ramona Sarsgaard on October 3, 2006.
In Garden State (2004), Peter's character collects Desert Storm trading cards. In Jarhead (2005), Peter's character fights in Desert Storm.
16
His baby face; his soft, strangely ominous voice; and often bizarre, unstable characters have led to him being compared to John Malkovich, who played his father in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).
17
He attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he co-founded a comedy improvisation group called Mama's Pot Roast.
$15 million
