Actor Peter Berg

Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy Very Bad Things (1998), the action comedy The Rundown (2003), the sports drama Friday Night Lights (2004), the action thriller The Kingdom (2007), the superhero comedy-drama Hancock (2008), the military science fiction war film Battleship (2012), the war film Lone Survivor (2013), the disaster drama Deepwater Horizon (2016), the Boston Marathon bombing drama Patriots Day (2016), the action thriller Mile 22 (2018), and the action comedy Spenser Confidential (2020) the latter five all starring Mark Wahlberg. In addition to cameo appearances in the last six of these titles, he has had prominent acting roles in films including Never on Tuesday (1989), The Last Seduction (1994), The Great White Hype (1996), Cop Land (1997), Corky Romano (2001), Collateral (2004), Smokin’ Aces (2006), and Lions for Lambs (2007).

In television, Berg developed Friday Night Lights (2006–2011), adapted from his film, earning two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. As an actor, he is best known for his role as Dr. Billy Kronk on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope (1995–1999).

Early life

Berg was born in 1964 in New York City, the son of Laurence (“Larry”), a US Marine, and Sally (Winkler) Berg. Berg’s father was Jewish, as was his maternal grandfather. His mother was Christian.

Through his mother, Berg is a second cousin of writer H. G. Bissinger, whose book Friday Night Lights provided the basis for Berg’s film and TV series of the same name. His mother co-founded a youth group named Catalog for Giving and worked at a psychiatric hospital when Berg was growing up. He has a younger sister, Mary.

Peter was a student in the Chappaqua School System. After graduating from The Taft School in 1980, 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.[citation needed]

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 acted in 21 Jump Street and Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story (both in 1988). He acted in Never on Tuesday, Miracle Mile, Race For Glory, Shocker, Heart of Dixie, Tale of Two Sisters and Going Overboard in 1989. He acted in Genuine Risk and Forradalom után in 1990. He appeared in Late for Dinner and Crooked Hearts in 1991. In the early 1990s, he appeared in A Midnight Clear, A Case for Murder, Fire in the Sky, Aspen Extreme, Across the Moon, Uneviled and F.T.W.

In 1992, Berg gained recognition for playing a World War II soldier in the film A Midnight Clear. In 1998, Berg made his feature directorial debut with Very Bad Things, a black comedy starring Jon Favreau, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven, Daniel Stern, and Leland Orser. The film, which was shown at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals, received mixed critical reception. In 2000, he created Wonderland, an edgy dramatic television series set in an asylum. While the ABC show received rave reviews and garnered a cult following, it failed to deliver ratings and was quickly canceled.

In 2003, Berg directed the action comedy The Rundown. Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Seann William Scott, the film received positive reviews from critics but disappointed at the box office, only grossing 80 million of its reported 85 million budget. In 2004, Berg began work on his third directorial effort, Friday Night Lights, a football film based on the New York Times bestseller written by Buzz Bissinger.

In 2006, Berg developed and became executive producer of NBC’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning drama Friday Night Lights, based on the novel and film of the same name.[citation needed]

He appeared in the war film Lions for Lambs (2007) as Lt. Colonel Falco. Berg followed up in 2007 with The Kingdom, a Michael Mann-produced action-political thriller set in Saudi Arabia, starring Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper, also with Jennifer Garner whom Berg met when he appeared in a two-part episode of Alias where he played Garner’s ex-boyfriend. Berg’s film Hancock, starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman, was one of the highest grossing films of 2008.

Berg directed the Hulu.com commercial featuring Alec Baldwin, which both The New York Times and Time magazine named best spot of Super Bowl XLIII. In 2009, Berg directed a two-hour pilot movie for a Fox television series Virtuality. Even though the show was not picked up for a full season, the pilot was released on DVD exclusively through Best Buy. Berg also directed the ESPN documentary “Kings Ransom” in 2009. Berg also wrote the film The Losers (2010).

Berg also directed the science-fiction/action film Battleship (2012) and the war film Lone Survivor (2013), an adaptation of Marcus Lutrell’s book of the same name. Variety writer Justin Chang said Berg delivered “his most serious-minded work to date with Lone Survivor.” Berg is developing a sequel to Hancock and producing a live-action version of the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars.[citation needed]

In 2013, Berg created the opening animation sequence for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The 80-second graphic featured Darth Vader (from Star Wars), Pac-Man, President Ronald Reagan and some highlights of MNF games from 1970–2012. In 2014, he directed the first two episodes of HBO’s The Leftovers.

In 2016, Berg directed the film Deepwater Horizon, based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Berg replaced director J. C. Chandor, who had exited the film due to creative differences. That same year, he directed CBS Films’ Patriots Day, about the Boston Marathon bombing. Mark Wahlberg starred in both films.

In 2017, Berg was asked to direct an ambitious commercial for Hyundai, recorded after the kickoff of Super Bowl LI and aired right after the game. More recently, his Film 44 company was signed to a first look deal with Netflix.

Personal life

In 1993, Berg was married to Elizabeth Rogers; they divorced in 1998. He has one child with her.

On July 15, 2015, Berg criticized ESPN’s decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award with an Instagram post in which he shared a Facebook photo of Army veteran Gregory D. Gadson (a double amputee who played a role in Berg’s Battleship film) alongside one of Jenner. It said: “One Man traded 2 legs for the freedom of the other to trade 2 balls for 2 boobs. Guess which Man made the cover of Vanity Fair, was praised for his courage by President Obama and is to be honored with the ‘Arthur Ashe Courage Award’ by ESPN?” Along with the shared post, Berg commented, “Yup.”

After Berg received significant criticism for the post, he later clarified his remarks, saying he had the utmost respect for Jenner and transgender individuals; however, he released another photo with statistics on veteran suicide, stating, “I also believe that we don’t give enough attention to our courageous returning war veterans, many of whom have sacrificed their bodies and mental health for our country and our principals [sic] – principals that include the freedom to live the life you want to live without persecution or abuse.”

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1998	Very Bad Things	Yes	Yes	No	Also composer (“Walls Come Down”)
2003	The Rundown	Yes	No	No
2004	Friday Night Lights	Yes	Yes	No
2007	The Kingdom	Yes	No	No
2008	Hancock	Yes	No	No
2010	The Losers	No	Yes	No
2012	Battleship	Yes	No	Yes
2013	Lone Survivor	Yes	Yes	Yes
2016	Deepwater Horizon	Yes	No	No
	Patriots Day	Yes	Yes	No
2018	Mile 22	Yes	No	Yes
2020	Spenser Confidential	Yes	No	Yes

Producer only

Pu-239 (2006)

Lars and the Real Girl (2007) (Executive producer)

Hercules (2014) (Executive producer)

Hell or High Water (2016)

Wind River (2017)

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story	Bobby
1989	Never on Tuesday	Eddie
	Miracle Mile	Band Member
	Race for Glory	Chris Washburn
	Shocker	Jonathan Parker
	Heart of Dixie	Jenks
	Tale of Two Sisters	Gardner
	Going Overboard	Mort Ginsberg	as Pete Berg
1990	Genuine Risk	Henry
	Forradalom után
1991	Late for Dinner	Frank Lovegren
	Crooked Hearts	Tom
1992	A Midnight Clear	Bud Miller
1993	A Case for Murder	Jack Hemmet
	Fire in the Sky	David Whitlock
	Aspen Extreme	Dexter Rutecki
1994	Across the Moon	Lyle
	Uneviled	Drug dealer
	F.T.W.	Clem Stuart
	The Last Seduction	Mike Swale
	Rise and Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story	Dennis Byrd
1995	Heavyweights	Chef (uncredited)
1996	The Great White Hype	Terry Conklin
	Girl 6	Caller No 1—Bob
1997	Cop Land	Joey Randone
1998	Very Bad Things	Doctor
1999	Dill Scallion	Nate Clumson
2001	Corky Romano	Paulie Romano
2004	Collateral	Richard Weidner
2006	Smokin’ Aces	“Pistol” Pete Deeks
2007	Lions for Lambs	Lt. Col. Falco
	The Kingdom	FBI Agent
2008	Hancock	Doctor	Uncredited
2011	POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold	Himself	Documentary
2012	Battleship	Sonar Mate	Uncredited
2013	Lone Survivor	Navy Personnel
2015	Trophy Kids	Himself	Documentary
2016	Deepwater Horizon	Mr. Skip	as Pete Berg
2018	Mile 22	Lucas

Television

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
1994, 1997	Chicago Hope	Yes	No	Yes	Episodes “Colonel of Truth” and “Quiet Riot” (as Peter W. Berg)
2000	Wonderland	Yes	executive	Yes	Creator; Episode “Pilot”
2006	Friday Night Lights	Yes	executive	Yes	Creator; Episodes “Pilot” and “East of Dillon”
2009	30 for 30	Yes	Yes	No	Episode “Kings Ransom”
	Virtuality	Yes	executive	No	TV movie
	Trauma	No	executive	No
2011	Prime Suspect	Yes	executive	No	Episode “Pilot”
2014	The Leftovers	Yes	executive	No	Episodes “Pilot” and “Penguin One, Us Zero”
2015–2019	Ballers	Yes	executive	No	Episode “Pilot”
2018	The People’s Fighters: Teofilo Stevenson and the Legend of Cuban Boxing	Yes	No	No	TV documentary, also narrator
2019	Dare Me	No	executive	No
TBA	The Green Beret’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse	No	executive	No

Teofilo Stevenson and the Legend of Cuban Boxing

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	21 Jump Street	Jerome Sawyer	Episode “Champagne High”
1995	Fallen Angels	Augie / Joe Wales	2 episodes
1995–1999	Chicago Hope	Dr. Billy Kronk	106 episodes
1996	The Naked Truth		1 episode
2002	The King of Queens	Lil’ Eddie	Episode “Kirbed Enthusiasm”
	Alias	Agent Noah Hicks	Episodes “Snowman” and “Masquerade”
2008	Friday Night Lights	Morris “Mo” McArnold	Episode “May The Best Man Win”
2008–2010	Entourage	Himself	Season 5 and Season 7
2011	Prime Suspect	Deputy Chief Daniel Costello	2 episodes
2012	Californication	Himself	Episode “The Way of the Fist”
2014	The Leftovers	Pete	2 episodes
2015–2017	Ballers	Coach Berg	7 episodes
2017	Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television	Himself	Episode: “Eight Is the New Se7en”

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
2003	“Addicted”	Enrique Iglesias
2008	“Keeps Gettin’ Better”	Christina Aguilera
2012	“One More Night”	Maroon 5
2014	“Maps”

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1996	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Chicago Hope	Nominated
1997				Nominated
1998				Nominated
	Deauville American Film Festival Award	Fun Radio Trophy	Very Bad Things	Won
	Grand Special Prize	Nominated
	San Sebastián International Film Festival Award	Golden Seashell		Nominated
2005	AFI Award	Movie of the Year	Friday Night Lights	Won
	ESPY Award	Best Sports Movie		Won
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie: Drama		Nominated
	USC Scripter Award	Best Film (Shared with Buzz Bissinger and David Aaron Cohen)		Nominated
	Young Artist Award	Best Family Feature Film – Drama		Nominated
2007	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series		Nominated
	Writers Guild of America	Best New Series (Shared with Bridget Carpenter, Kerry Ehrin, Carter Harris, Liz Heldens, David Hudgins, Jason Katims, Patrick Massett, Andy Miller, Aaron Rahsaan Thomas and John Zinman)		Nominated
2008	Golden Eagle Award	Best Foreign Film	Hancock	Nominated
2011	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Drama Series	Friday Night Lights	Nominated
2013	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Director	Battleship	Nominated
		Worst Picture		Nominated
	Golden Trailer Award	Best Summer Blockbuster 2012 TV Spot		Nominated
	Houston Film Critics Society Award	Worst Film		Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Adapted Screenplay	Lone Survivor	Nominated
2014	Writers Guild of America Award	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
	Saturn Award	Best Director		Nominated

External Links

Actor Peter Berg – Wikipedia