Peter Stormare is a Swedish actor, voice actor, theatre director, playwright, and musician. He is best known for his roles in the films Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, Minority Report, and Prisoners. He has also appeared in such television series as The Blacklist, American Gods, and Vikings.
Stormare was born Peter Ingvar Rolf Storm on August 27, 1953, in Kumla, Sweden. His parents were both teachers. He has two older sisters. Stormare’s interest in theatre and acting began at an early age. He was a member of his high school’s theatre group and appeared in several school plays. After graduating from high school, he studied drama at the University of Stockholm.
Stormare made his film debut in the Swedish film Zappa in 1983. He has since appeared in over 100 films and television series. Some of his most notable roles include Carl Showalter in Fargo (1996), Uli Kunkel/Karl Hungus in The Big Lebowski (1998), Lev Andropov in Armageddon (1998), John Anderton in Minority Report (2002), and John Cooper in Prisoners (2013).
Stormare has been married three times. His first marriage was to Karen Sillas from 1989 to 1992. His second marriage was to Maria Zita Gustafsson from 1994 to 2002. He has been married to Ingela Olsson since 2004. Stormare has three children.
Stormare is a dual citizen of Sweden and the United States. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
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Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo
Movies
Fargo, Constantine, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Armageddon, The Big Lebowski, Windtalkers, Bad Boys II, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Brothers Grimm, Clown, The Last Stand, 22 Jump Street, Dancer in the Dark, Lockout, Minority Report, Chocolat, Get the Gringo, 8mm, The Tuxedo, Dark Summer, ...
There are so many people who hate themselves, and I realized early on that you can't change your looks. You have to live with what you've got. And you have to give yourself credit every morning by saying "yes!" -- and that'll help you. But if you dis yourself every morning, it's not good for you mentally, and it won't help your appearance. It's not that I love my looks. But ... it's me. And I cherish the blessing that there's only one me in this world. I'm happy about that fact, and it shines through sometimes.
2
Yeah, prep is very important -- for me, at least. I like to improvise. But if you're the only one improvising, then you can f**k it up for other actors in the scene if you're the only one coming up with new things. Sometimes it can be good, and the director tells you to do something to stir or awaken the actors whom you're playing with, or they do it to you and you have a great reaction. But I think it's the directors who especially need to prepare their work. A lot of young directors today work on digital and run the cameras 24/7, and it's tedious for an actor to do the same scene over and over again. When a director is prepped, you feel very secure, and you become a better actor. He knows what he wants and he's like, "Okay, let's move on to the next scene."
3
They [the Coen Brothers] have an obsession with pancakes. It's a Midwestern thing, I guess. I had never had pancakes. I grew up in Sweden, and I'm not a big fan of pancakes.
4
I've done Hamlet, and no one talks about Hamlet killing five people. No one even talks about sending him to jail. And it's the same thing for a character like Abruzzi. I think people root for him because he's just punishing people who are bad humans in a way. Always in movies and TV, in drama we always root for those characters. Even if they have killed four or five people, they have killed people that we've really disliked. They have done us a service. And he's such a character. That's why I've tried to keep him very Shakespearean. --talking about his character John Abruzzi from Prison Break (2005)
5
Upon receiving the Fargo (1996) script: "Where are all my lines?!"
6
"I was a foreigner, and I knew that most of the parts I would be offered would be foreigners. I knew I could not compete with Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, and Nicolas Cage, and so I did not fight it. I saw the path I was destined to walk and decided to do the parts that would be offered to me as well as I possibly could." --on his initial career outlook when he first came to the U.S. to act.
7
"I liked the way that film took realistic events and added this slightly out-of-kilter perspective. My character in that film was, in one sense, a caricature of a killer, but there was also a sense of mystery surrounding him that captured the imagination. Fargo (1996) was an exciting experience for me largely because of the approach the Coen brothers took. It was the antithesis of Armageddon (1998). It was low-budget, a very guerrilla-style approach to filmmaking that made its own rules and was very specific in what it was trying to accomplish." --on Fargo (1996).
8
"I grew up in northern Sweden in a very small village and this is exactly the same. It's very strange. It's two hundred small villages linked together. Living here as compared to living in Tokyo, where I lived, or in London or New York, this is so much more like living in the country. You go to bed early and you get up early, even if you're not working. You get up early with the sun and go to bed with the sun. That is much more rural kind of living and it suits me so much better than New York." - On Los Angeles.
Facts
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Fact
1
He and his wife, Toshimi, welcomed a daughter, Kaiya Bella Luna, born May 9, 2009.
2
Son of Karl Ingvar Storm and Gunhild Storm.
3
Whenever possible, he avoids watching himself in either TV shows or films.
4
He's an actor, a writer, a director, and a musician.
5
He moved to New York in 1993. Nowadays he lives in Los Angeles (2007).
6
Peter started his career in Royal Dramatic Theater in Sweden.
7
Released his first album in 2002: "Dallerpölsa och småfåglar".
Began using the name Stormare, since there were two Peter Storms at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre.
13
Has a daughter, Kelly (born in March 1989), with former Swedish girlfriend. Of respect to their privacy, Kelly's last-name is not official. He also has another daughter with his present wife. Her name is Kaiya Bella Luna, 4 years old, born May 9 2009.
He was accidentally hit by Mark Hamill during a fight scene in Hamilton (1998). He has broken his nose four times, last time during the shooting of "Unknown". A nose surgery was done in 2008, to prevent him from going blind on the right eye.
16
In addition to being a stage and screen actor, he was quite prolific as a playwright and a theater director.
