Peter Berg

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Peter Berg
Born March 11, 1964 (1964-03-11) (age 45)
New York City, New York, USA
Occupation Film, television actor, director, producer, writer

Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964)[1] is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown and Hancock.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Berg was born in New York City, New York, in 1964. He is the son of Sally and Larry Berg. His mother co-founded a youth group named Catalog for Giving and worked at a psychiatric hospital when Berg was growing up.[1] He has a younger sister, Mary. After graduating high school from The Taft School, Berg attended Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he majored in theater arts and theater history. He graduated in 1984, and in 1985 moved to Los Angeles to pursue his film career. Berg put his acting aspirations on hold when he first arrived in Los Angeles, choosing instead to learn about the film business as a production assistant. He has a son named Kolby, who is currently a student at Osage High School.

[edit] Career

Berg made his screen debut in a 1986 episode of CBS' The Equalizer and later appeared on 21 Jump Street (Fox) and O'Hara (ABC).

Berg is probably best-known for his role as Dr. Billy Kronk on the CBS TV series Chicago Hope from 1995 to 1999. He wrote two episodes of the series his first year as a regular and later would get his feet wet as a director before leaving the series at the end of the 1998-99 season. Berg described the opportunity as "like getting paid to go to film school." Berg was also a guest star in two episodes of Alias as Noah Hicks.

Berg is the creator and an executive producer for the TV series Friday Night Lights, which premiered October 3, 2006 on NBC. He wrote and directed the series pilot and was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for "Best New Series" at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the first season. He also received an Emmy nomination for directing the pilot.

Berg has signed on as director for a new movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune.

Recently Berg directed the pilot episode of Virtuality which aired on Friday June 26 2009 and was created by Ronald D. Moore of Battlestar Galactica fame.

[edit] Personal life

On August 28, 1993, Berg married long-time girlfriend Elizabeth Rogers; they divorced in 1997. Berg has a son, Emmett, who was born November 1999. Berg dated Estella Warren[citation needed] for four years until spring 2006 when they ended their relationship. He is also the cousin of writer H. G. Bissinger, whose book Friday Night Lights provides the basis for the film and TV series. Berg is Jewish.[2]

[edit] The Kingdom accident

While shooting the film The Kingdom on location in Mesa, Arizona Berg was involved in a fatal accident that resulted in the death of another member of the production team. The SUV he was riding in collided with a Gator all-terrain vehicle driven by Nick Papac. Papac died three hours later. On August 8, 2008, Papac's parents Michael Papac and Michele Bell filed suit against the director, a driver and the production company.[3]

[edit] Filmography

As actor:

As director:

As producer:

As writer:

As composer:

[edit] Awards/Nominations

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Peter Berg Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Yahoo!. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800026675/bio. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  2. ^ Bloom, Nate (2007-01-26). "Celebrity Jews". j.. http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/31455/format/html/displaystory.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  3. ^ "'Hancock' director sued over death". CNN. 2008-08-08. http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/08/movie.crash.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  4. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1267297/

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Berg"
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