Peter Stormare

Peter Stormare

Stormare in 2008
Born Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm
27 August 1953
Kumla, Närke, Sweden
Occupation Actor, Voice Actor, theatre director, playwright, musician
Years active 1978–present
Spouse(s) Karen Sillas
(1989–2006; divorced)
Toshimi Stormare
(2008–present)
Website
www.stormare.se

Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Peter Stormare (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈpeːtɛr stɔrmˈarɛ]), is a Swedish actor, voice actor, theatre director, playwright, and musician. He is probably best known in the United States for playing Gaear Grimsrud in the 1996 film Fargo. He is also well known for his role as John Abruzzi in the Fox series Prison Break.

Early life

Stormare was born in Kumla, Närke,[1] Sweden and grew up in Arbrå, Hälsingland. He changed his surname when he discovered that he shared it with a senior student at an acting academy. Like "storm" (a word which has the same meaning in Swedish and English), "stormare" is a Swedish word, meaning "stormer". Before settling on "Stormare", he briefly contemplated changing his name to "Mrots Retep", which is simply "Peter Storm" backwards.

Acting career

Stormare began his career with the Royal Dramatic Theatre, to which he belonged for 11 years. In 1990, he took a leading position as Associate Artistic Director at the Tokyo Globe Theatre and made a name for himself through various Shakespeare performances, including Hamlet. Three years later, he moved to New York City and mainly took part there in English language productions. He played Carl Hamilton, a fictional Swedish secret agent. He was discovered by international audiences for his critically acclaimed role as one of the kidnappers in Fargo (1996). He portrayed Dieter Stark in the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park and later played sleazy, unlicensed "eye-doctor" Solomon Eddie in Minority Report.

In 1998, he appeared in "The Frogger", a Seinfeld episode where he played a rogue electrician known as Slippery Pete. He portrayed Uli Kunkel in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski, as well as playing Lev Andropov, a Russian cosmonaut in the 1998 film Armageddon. In 1999, he appeared as a villainous producer and director of hardcore porn in the film 8mm. He also portrayed Gunny in the 2002 film Windtalkers and Alexei in the 2003 film Bad Boys II. In 2003, he played Ernst Röhm in Hitler: The Rise of Evil. In the 2005 film Constantine, he played Lucifer. He played an interrogator in the 2005 film The Brothers Grimm. His first major character in television was on the show Prison Break in 2005, where he played mob boss John Abruzzi. He was originally cast in Fido, but opted out of the film upon being cast in Prison Break.

Stormare voiced Mattias Nilsson in the video games Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Isair in the computer game Icewind Dale 2, and Johann Strauss in Quake 4. In February 2006, he starred as Wolfgang in Volkswagen's VDub series of television commercials. He played the main character in the film Svartvattnet, which was filmed in Sweden and Norway in 2007.[2] He was offered a role in the ABC television series Lost for a period of one year,[3] which he declined.[4] In the 2007 film Premonition, he played Dr. Roth. In April 2007, he appeared in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Ending Happy".

In December 2007, Stormare participated in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet. He appears in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as Dr. Zelinsky, a Russian scientist who builds a time machine. He starred as Walter in the Canadian independent crime thriller Small Town Murder Songs (2010). He appeared in the music video of the song "Uprising" by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton.[5] He plays himself in the 2011 Norwegian comedy Hjelp, vi er i filmbransjen and appeared as a psychiatrist in the Swedish horror film Marianne (2011). He appeared in a trailer for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II, made for the "Revolution" DLC pack. He has since reappeared in most trailers for the game.

In 2014 - television, Stormare has recently appeared in episodes of Longmire, Arrow and The Blacklist. 2014 starred in the Eli Roth produced film Clown,[6] who potrayed Karlsson.[7]

Music career

Stormare with Hedwig Gorski backstage at a Bob Dylan concert in Prague, October 2003

After Bono of U2 heard some of Stormare's music, he encouraged Stormare to make an album. In 2002, Stormare released his first album, Dallerpölsa och småfåglar. He plays in a band called Blonde from Fargo and runs a record label called StormVox.[8]

Personal life

Stormare divides his time between the United States and Sweden.[9] He married actress Karen Sillas in 1989; they divorced in 2006. He married Toshimi, a native of Japan, in 2008.[9] Their daughter Kaiya Bella Luna Stormare was born on May 9, 2009.

Stormare is the godfather of Gustaf Skarsgård, the son of Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård. While working on a Disney film in Prague, he was introduced to Bob Dylan after Dylan's concert by bassist Tony Garnier. His nephew is The Sound of Arrows singer-songwriter Stefan Storm.

Stormare is a Christian and claims that he has had contact with God.[9][10] When he was young, he participated in Baptist meetings in Arbrå.[10][11] He has a strong spiritual side, inherited from his mother, who claimed to be a medium, and who inherited this from her own father.[10][11]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1978 Lyftet Prisoner
1982 Fanny and Alexander Young Man
1986 Seppan Sara's Father Television film
1986 Den frusna leoparden Jerry
1987 Pirates of the Lake Justus
1990 Awakenings Neurochemist
1991 Freud flyttar hemifrån... Berra
1992 Damage Peter Wetzler
1996 Fargo Gaear Grimsrud
1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Dieter Stark
1997 In the Presence of a Clown Petrus Landahl Television film
1998 Armageddon Lev Andropov
1998 Mercury Rising Shayes
1998 The Big Lebowski Uli Kunkel / Karl Hungus
1998 Commander Hamilton Carl Hamilton
1998 Somewhere in the City Graham
1999 Purgatory Cavin Guthrie
1999 8mm Dino Velvet
2000 Bruiser Milo Styles
2000 Chocolat Serge Muscat
2000 Dancer in the Dark Jeff
2000 The Million Dollar Hotel Dixie
2000 Circus Julius
2001 Happy Campers Oberon
2002 13 Moons Slovo
2002 The Beatle Fan Albert
2002 Spun Mullet Cop
2002 Minority Report Dr. Solomon Eddie
2002 Windtalkers Gunnery Sergeant Hjelmstad
2002 The Tuxedo Dr. Simms
2002 Bad Company Adrik Vas
2003 Hitler: The Rise of Evil Ernst Röhm Television film
2003 Bad Boys II Alexei
2003 The Movie Hero The Suspicious Character
2004 Birth Clifford
2005 The Batman vs. Dracula Dracula Voice
2005 The Brothers Grimm Cavaldi
2005 2001 Maniacs Professor Ackerman
2005 Buck Rogers to the Xtreme!
2005 Constantine Lucifer / Satan
2006 Nacho Libre Emperor
2006 Unknown Snakeskin Boots
2007 Premonition Dr. Roth
2007 Anamorph Blair Collet
2007 Boot Camp Arthur Hail
2007 They Never Found Her Woods
2007 Switch Tommen
2007 Gone with the Woman Glenn
2008 Witless Protection Arthur Grimsley
2008 Insanitarium Dr. Gianetti
2008 Varg Klemens
2009 The Killing Room Dr. Phillips
2009 Horsemen David Spitz
2009 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus The President
2010 Corridor Micke
2010 Undocumented Z
2010 Dylan Dog: Dead of Night Gabriel
2010 Small Town Murder Songs Walter
2010 Henry's Crime Darek Millodragovic
2011 Marianne Sven
2011 Inseparable Richard
2011 The Hunters 2 Torsten
2011 Hjelp, vi er i filmbransjen Peter Stormare
2012 Lockout Scott Langral
2012 Get the Gringo Frank Fowler
2012 Small Apartments Mr. Olivetti
2012 Tai Chi Hero Duke Fleming
2013 Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Sheriff Berringer
2013 The Last Stand Thomas Burrell
2013 Siberian Education Ink
2013 Autumn Blood The Mayor
2013 Bad Milo! Highsmith
2013 Trial of Arms Karkov
2013 Sleight of Hand Terrible Terry
2013 The Pendant White
2013 The Zero Theorem Doctor
2013 Pain & Gain Dr. Bjornson
2014 22 Jump Street Ghost
2014 Rage O'Connell
2014 Mall Barry
2014 Penguins of Madagascar Corporal Voice
2014 Bang Bang Baby George
2014 Clown Karlsson
2015 Strange Magic Thang Voice
2015 Welcome to Purgatory Lucius Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1993 Morsarvet Kapten Bergkvist Miniseries
1998 Seinfeld Slippery Pete Episode: "The Frogger"
2002 Watching Ellie Ingvar 11 episodes
2004 Joey Viktor Episode: "Joey and the Husband"
2005 Prison Break John Abruzzi 20 episodes
2007 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation George "Binky" Babinkian Episode: "Ending Happy"
2008 Transformers: Animated Meltdown
Prometheus Black
Voice
3 episodes
2008 Monk Petya Lovak Episode: "Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece"
2009 Entourage Aaron Cohen 2 episodes
2009 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Gorb Episode: "Road Trip"
2010 Weeds Chef 2 episodes
2010 Hawaii Five-0 Drago Zankovic Episode: "Ohana"
2010 Adventure Time Sir Slicer Voice
Episode: "Blood Under the Skin"
2011 Covert Affairs Max Kupala Episode: "The Outsiders"
2011 Wilfred Trashface Episode: "Isolation"
2011 Leverage Gunter Hanzig Episode: "The Office Job"
2012 NCIS: Los Angeles Interpol Agent Martin Källström Episode: "Crimeleon"
2012 Body of Proof Wilson Polley Episode: "Mind Games"
2013 Phineas and Ferb Whiplash Voice
Episode: "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel"
2014 Psych Cyrus Polk Episode: "Someone's Got a Woody"
2014 Rake Jack Tarrant Episode: "Serial Killer"
2014 The Blacklist Milos Kirchoff / Berlin[12][13] 5 episodes
2014 Arrow Werner Zytle / Count Vertigo[14]
2014 Manhattan Lazar[15][16]
2014 Longmire Chance Gilbert 2 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role
2002 Icewind Dale II Isair
2005 Quake 4 Pvt. Johann Strauss
2005 Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction Mattias Nilsson
2008 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Mattias Nilsson
2008 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Dr. Gregor Zelinsky
2009 Wanted: Weapons of Fate The Immortal
2010 Prison Break: The Conspiracy John Abruzzi
2012 The Secret World Dr. Aldini
Huiginn
Muninn
2013 Call of Duty: Black Ops II The Replacer
2014 The Elder Scrolls Online Jorunn the Skald King
2014 Destiny Arach Jalaal[17]

Music videos

Year Artist Title
2010 Sabaton "Uprising"

Discography

References

External links

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