Biography

Peter Greene

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Overview

Born
May 10, 1959 · Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Died
December 12, 2025 · Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA (accidental gunshot wound)
Birth name
Peter Green
Height
6′ 3″ (1.91 m)

Mini bio

Born in Montclair, New Jersey. He discovered acting in his mid 20s in New York, where he was trained at Lee Strasberg's studio. Then his deep voiced, tall and pale persona showed up on TV and films in 1990. His first leading roles were in Laws of Gravity (1992) and Clean, Shaven (1993), the latter of which got him noticed by Quentin Tarantino. The next year, he played the memorable role of the raping torturer Zed in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994).

He was then cast as the leading villain opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask (1994), and as Redfoot in highly acclaimed crime drama The Usual Suspects (1995). In addition, the same year he had a supporting role as a bad guy in the Steven Seagal film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995).

Greene has also played memorable roles in the films Blue Streak (1999), Ticker (2000) Training Day (2002), Brothers in Arms (2005), End Game (2006), Fist of the Warrior (2007), The Bounty Hunter (2010), Once Fallen (2010), and the TV series The Black Donellys (2007).

He's made guest appearances in the TV series Hawaii Five-O (2010) and Justified (2010), appeared as a policeman in Prodigy of Mobb Deep's music video for "A,B,C's", and was the focal point of House of Pain's music video for "Fed Up".

Recently, Greene delivered an emotionally-charged performance as 'Jordan Blaine' in the season two premiere of Tim Firtion's award-winning crime drama/thriller web series, The Jersey Connection (2018). The project has garnered many awards on the festival circuit, with Greene receiving two wins and another five nominations for his acting performance.

Greene continues to work primarily as a character actor.
- IMDb mini biography by: svedzin

Family

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Trademarks

Almost invariably plays sleazy, mean criminals often engaged in killing, torturing, dealing drugs, or stealing.
Sunken eyes
Tall slender frame
Prominent cheekbones
Blonde hair

Trivia

During filming on The Usual Suspects (1995), Greene improvised a memorable cinematic moment by flicking a lit cigarette into Stephen Baldwin's face. This later prompted Suspects writer Christopher McQuarrie to call Greene a "million-dollar day player.".
He had a well publicized battle with heroin that was well covered in a several page spread entitled "Career High" for Premiere Magazine in 1998. He has since fully recovered from his near fatal addiction.
Began acting at age 25 in NYC.
Appeared in two consecutive films that won the Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category: Pulp Fiction (1994) and The Usual Suspects (1995).
Dropped out of Montclair High School in New Jersey.