| Peter Weller | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter Frederick Weller June 24, 1947 Stevens Point, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, film director, lecturer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Spouse | Sheri Stowe (m. 2006–present) |
Peter Frederick Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an American film and stage actor, director and lecturer.
He is best known for his roles as the title character in the first two RoboCop films and Buckaroo Banzai in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. He received an Academy Award nomination for his direction for the 1993 short Partners, in which he also acted. He also hosted the show Engineering an Empire on the History Channel. He played Stan Liddy in the 5th season of the Showtime original series Dexter.
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Weller was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, the son of Dorothy Jean (née Davidson), a homemaker, and Frederick Bradford Weller, a lawyer, federal judge, and career helicopter pilot for the United States Army.[1][2] Weller had a "middle-class Catholic" upbringing.[3] As a result of his father's army work, Weller spent many years abroad during his childhood. His family lived in Germany for several years before eventually moving to Texas, where he attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio. While enrolled at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), he played trumpet in one of the campus bands. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre in 1969, and began his acting career after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Weller's stage career began in the 1970s with appearances on Broadway in Full Circle, directed by Otto Preminger, and Summer Brave, William Inge's rewrite of his play Picnic. About this time, he became a member of the famed Actors Studio.[4]
On the set of Firstborn, Corey Haim's first day of shooting was with Weller, and he went up to compliment the older actor on his performance. Weller collared Haim, throwing him up against a wall viciously warning him not to speak to him after a take, and it took three assistants to separate them. Haim later admitted that he was terrified by the experience.[5]
He has appeared in more than 50 films and television series, including turns as the title characters in the cult classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and blockbuster hits RoboCop and RoboCop 2.[6] He has also appeared in such critically acclaimed films as Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite, the Oliver Stone-produced The New Age and Naked Lunch. In a 1977 episode of the television series Lou Grant, he plays Oberster SA-Führer Donald Sterner/Stryker, a tragically disillusioned Jewish-American Neo-Nazi leader who later committed suicide off-screen with his Colt 45 near the end of the episode when his heritage was discovered.
In 1995, he appeared in Screamers, a science-fiction film based on the short story "Second Variety" by Philip K. Dick and directed by Christian Duguay. Duguay would later direct Weller in the 2005–2007 television series Engineering an Empire for the History Channel, which Weller hosted.
On television, he played the shuttle captain in the short-lived series Odyssey 5 and made guest appearances as Terran supremacist John Frederick Paxton in the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "Demons", "Terra Prime" and in Fringe as the character Alistair Peck.
Weller has also directed various projects for television, including episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, Monk and three episodes of the aforementioned Odyssey 5. He directed a 1997 adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast starring David Caruso and Marg Helgenberger after previously starring in a version of Leonard's thriller Cat Chaser. He directed Episode 3 of Season 4, titled "Dorylus" (air date 9/20/11), of the series Sons of Anarchy.
Weller is a contributor to the History Channel in several productions, credited as "Peter Weller, Syracuse University", where he is an adjunct faculty member. He is a graduate student in art history at UCLA, focusing on the Italian Renaissance. Weller also hosts the series Engineering an Empire for the network.
In 2005, Weller co-starred as the Captain in a made-for-television remake of The Poseidon Adventure.
In 2006, Weller joined the cast of 24 as terrorist collaborator Christopher Henderson.[7] Weller received a "cheer" in TV Guide's "Cheers & Jeers" section for his performance. In December 2006, Weller starred as architect Frank Lloyd Wright at Chicago's Goodman Theatre in Frank's Home, a new play by Richard Nelson.
On January 15, 2010, Weller was seen in a teaser trailer for the companion documentary God of War: Unearthing the Legend that was featured in the game God of War III which Weller also hosted.[8]
On April 15, 2010, Weller guest-starred in an episode of the science fiction drama Fringe. Weller stars in a guest role on the Showtime original series Dexter.[9] Weller also had a guest appearance in the December 22, 2010 episode of Psych; where he played villain "Yin"[10]
Weller is a fan of Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, who directed him in Beyond the Clouds. In an interview in Cigar Aficionado magazine, he was quoted as saying:
| “ | There is no director living except maybe Kurosawa, Bergman, or Antonioni that I would fall down and do anything for. I met Antonioni three years ago in Taormina at a film festival. I introduced myself and told him that I adored his movies, his contributions to film, because he was the first guy who really started making films about the reality of the vacuity between people, the difficulty in traversing this space between lovers in modern day... and he never gives you an answer, Antonioni – that's the beautiful thing."[3] | ” |
Weller has been romantically linked to Ali MacGraw, Barbra Streisand (1992) and was engaged to Sela Ward. He married on his 59th birthday in Positano in 2006, and his first child was born September 12, 2011.
In 2004, Weller completed a Master's degree in Roman and Renaissance Art at Syracuse University and occasionally teaches courses in ancient history at the university. In 2007, Weller was finishing a Ph.D. at UCLA, in Italian Renaissance art history.[11] He expects to complete his dissertation in 2012.[12]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Man Without a Country | Lt. Fellows | Television film |
| 1975 | The Silence | Red Sash | Television film |
| 1979 | Butch and Sundance: The Early Days | Joe Le Fors | |
| 1980 | Just Tell Me What You Want | Steven Routledge | |
| 1982 | Shoot the Moon | Frank Henderson | |
| 1983 | Kentucky Woman | Deke Cullover | Television film |
| Two Kinds of Love | Joe Farley | Television film | |
| Of Unknown Origin | Bart Hughes | Paris Film Festival for Best Actor | |
| 1984 | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension | Buckaroo Banzai | |
| Firstborn | Sam | ||
| 1986 | A Killing Affair | Baston Morris | |
| Apology | Rad Hungate | Television film | |
| 1987 | RoboCop | Officer Alex J. Murphy | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actor |
| 1988 | The Tunnel | Juan Pablo Castel | |
| Shakedown | Roland Dalton | ||
| 1989 | Leviathan | Steven Beck | |
| Cat Chaser | George Moran | ||
| 1990 | Women and Men: Stories of Seduction | Hobie | Television film |
| RoboCop 2 | RoboCop | ||
| Rainbow Drive | Mike Gallagher | Television film | |
| 1991 | Road to Ruin | Jack Sloan | |
| Naked Lunch | Bill Lee | Nominated – Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | |
| 1992 | Fifty/Fifty | Jake Wyer | |
| 1993 | Partners | Doctor | Short television film Nominated – Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film |
| Sunset Grill | Ryder Hart | ||
| 1994 | The Substitute Wife | Martin Hightower | Television film |
| The New Age | Peter Witner | ||
| Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee | Uncredited | Television film | |
| 1995 | Present Tense, Past Perfect | Charles | Short television film |
| Beyond the Clouds | Husband | ||
| Screamers | Joe Hendricksson | ||
| Mighty Aphrodite | Jerry Bender | ||
| Decoy | Baxter | ||
| 1997 | End of Summer | Theo Remmington | Television film |
| 1998 | Top of the World | Ray Mercer | |
| The Sands of Time | John Shannon | Television film | |
| 1999 | Diplomatic Siege | Steve Mitchell | |
| 2000 | Shadow Hours | Stuart Chappell | |
| Falling Through | Lou | ||
| Contaminated Man | Joseph Müller | ||
| Ivans Xtc | Don West | Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male | |
| Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula | Father Stefan | Television film | |
| 2001 | Styx | Nelson | |
| 2003 | The Order | Driscoll | |
| 2005 | Man of God | Rabbi | |
| Undiscovered | Wick Treadway | ||
| The Poseidon Adventure | Captain Paul Gallico | Television film | |
| 2006 | The Hard Easy | Ed Koster | |
| 2007 | Prey | Tom Newman | |
| Dating Vietnam | Jack Newton | ||
| 2010 | Once Fallen | Eddie | |
| 2011 | RoboCop Speaks to Detroit | Short film | |
| 2012 | Dragon Eyes | Mr. V | Post-production |
| Untitled Star Trek sequel | Pre-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Lou Grant | Donald Stryker | Episode: "Nazi" (1-5) |
| 1978 | Mourning Becomes Electra | Peter | Miniseries |
| 1987 | Faerie Tale Theatre | The Soldier | Episode: "The Dancing Princesses" (6-3) |
| 2002–2003 | Odyssey 5 | Chuck Taggart | Season 1: Episodes 1-19 |
| 2003 | The Handler | Gerard | Episode: "Body of Evidence" (1-4) |
| 2005 | Star Trek: Enterprise | John Frederick Paxton | Episodes: "Demons" (4-20), "Terra Prime" (4-21) |
| 2005–2007 | Engineering an Empire | Host | Documentary series |
| 2006 | 24 | Christopher Henderson | Season 5: Episodes 10-23 |
| Monk | Actor Playing Stottlemeyer | Episodes: "Mr. Monk and the Actor" (5-1) | |
| 2010 | Fringe | Alistair Peck | Episode: "White Tulip" (2-18) |
| Dexter | Stan Liddy | Season 5: Episodes 5-12 | |
| Psych | Professor Karl Rotmensen/Yin | Episode: "Yang 3 in 2D" (5-16) |
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