Clarke Peters
Date of birth: 1952-04-07
Place of birth: New York City, New York, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Peter Clarke, 클라크 피터스
Biography
Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series The Wire (2002–2008) and Albert Lambreaux in the television series Treme (2010–2013). He also wrote the book for the musical revue Five Guys Named Moe (1990). Peters is also known for his roles in the films Silver Dream Racer (1980), Endgame (2009), John Wick (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Harriet (2019), and Da 5 Bloods (2020), the lattermost of which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Peters was born Peter Clarke, the second of four sons, in New York City, and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. At the age of 12, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of 14. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1970. In 1971, Peters' older brother enabled him to work as a costume designer for a production of the musical Hair in Paris, in which Peters later starred. In 1973, Peters moved to London and changed his name to Clarke Peters, because Equity already had a few namesake members. While in London, he formed a soul band, The Majestics, and worked as a backup singer on such hits as "Love and Affection" by Joan Armatrading, "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, and some David Essex songs. However, music was not Peters' main ambition, and he preferred to work in the theater. His first West End theatre musical roles, which he received with assistance from his friend Ned Sherrin, were I Gotta Shoe (1976) and Bubbling Brown Sugar (1977). Other West End credits include Blues in the Night, Porgy and Bess, The Witches of Eastwick, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, and Chess. Peters starred in the Sean Connery space Western Outland (1981) as the treacherous Sgt. Ballard, and he played an almost wordless role as Anderson, a vicious pimp in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986). Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon in the HBO series The Wire. Peters also starred in the HBO mini-series The Corner, portraying a drug addict named Fat Curt, as well as the FX series Damages, as Dave Pell. Both The Wire and The Corner were created by writer and former The Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon. Peters also stars in Simon's HBO series Treme, in the role of Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux. Peters appeared in two episodes of the American time-travel/detective TV series Life on Mars (2008) as NYPD Captain Fletcher Bellow. He also appeared in the British show Holby City, as Derek Newman, the father of nurse Donna Jackson. He voiced a part in the Doctor Who animated episode Dreamland, and in the In Plain Sight episode "Duplicate Bridge" as a man in Witness Protection named Norman Baker/Norman Danzer. In 2010, Peters read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for BBC 7. In that year, he also had a guest appearance as Professor Mark Ramsay in the pilot episode of the USA Network TV series Covert Affairs. From 2012 to 2013, Peters had a recurring role as Alonzo D. Quinn in the CBS TV series Person of Interest.
Movie Credits
Mona Lisa
1986-06-13
George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Re
Outland
1981-05-22
On the sunless moon Io, Marshall William T. O’Niel goes toe-to-toe with the corrupt manager of a min
Freedomland
2006-02-17
A black police detective must solve a strange case of a kidnapped boy and deal with a big racial pro
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
2009-09-25
After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, a doctoral candidate in anthrop
Marley & Me
2008-12-25
A newly married couple, in the process of starting a family, learn many of life's important lessons
Gigantic
2008-09-09
Young mattress salesman Brian decides to adopt a baby from China but is distracted when he forms a r
The Poker House
2008-06-20
Agnes and her two sisters struggle through a day in a home overrun by gamblers, thieves, and johns.
Cameron Mackintosh - The First 50 Years
2021-12-27
Archival footage provides a glimpse into the life of Cameron Mackintosh; the storied producer famous
Searching for Sonny
2011-10-22
Reunited friends find themselves the chief suspects of a murder mystery that seems eerily similar to
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
1998-11-07
'Hey, Mr Producer!' features selected scenes from the productions of the world's most successful mus
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
2022-12-20
The joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, the great
Locked In
2010-09-17
Josh decides to leave his advertising career at its peak and walks away from fame and success. But h
The Wire: The Last Word
2007-12-27
A documentary exploring the role of the media in relation to the acclaimed series The Wire.
The Wire Odyssey
2007-12-20
A retrospective documentary of the first four seasons of the acclaimed series The Wire.
Red Hook Summer
2012-08-10
When his mom deposits him at the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn to spend the summer with the g
Sympathetic Details
2008-02-01
Number on End
1980-01-01
A documentary filmmaker’s latest work attracts the attentions of African secret agents - but what is
Red King, White Knight
1989-11-25
The CIA hears of a KGB scheme to assassinate the Soviet General Secretary and enlists Stoner, an age
Up Line
1987-02-04
Three alternative comedians get involved in a pyramid-selling organization, Pathway, in order to fin
The Nicholas Brothers: We Sing and We Dance
1992-11-29
The Nicholas Brothers are presented here in a way that reflects the joy and intrinsic goodness that
John Wick
2014-10-22
Ex-hitman John Wick comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from hi
The Best of Me
2014-10-15
A pair of former high school sweethearts reunite after many years when they return to visit their sm
The Benefactor
2015-12-23
A newly married couple are forced to navigate the all-consuming interest of a powerful, mysterious,
Sean Connery: In His Own Words
2015-08-18
Featuring archive interviews with Sean Connery from over 50 years in the business. Friends, actors a
Grace
2014-10-28
A unique horror film told from the first-person perspective of Grace - a naive, virginal college fre
The Music Machine
1979-05-01
At a famous London disco venue, a competition is announced to select two dancers to star in a new fi
Sexual Healing
A look at the last years of Marvin Gaye's life, from his parting ways with Motown and self-imposed e
Nativity!
2009-11-27
Paul, charged with directing his school's Nativity play, falsely boasts that his ex-girlfriend plans
Endgame
2009-01-18
The time is the late '80s, a crucial period in the history of South Africa. President P.W. Botha is
A Masculine Ending
1992-04-12
While English professor Loretta Lawson is attending a conference in Paris, she stays the night in th
Saigon: Year of the Cat
1983-11-29
The year is 1974, and Barbara Dean (Judi Dench), a British assistant manager in a foreign bank in Sa
James Brown: Soul Survivor
2003-10-29
James Brown's legacy has influenced rap, soul, funk and R&B. But along with his huge talent, there's
Chess in Concert
2009-06-17
The story of a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world ches
Legacy
2010-10-15
Taking refuge in a shabby Brooklyn motel after narrowly surviving a failed mission in Eastern Europe
Notting Hill
1999-05-21
London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with f
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017-12-01
After seven months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes makes
Head of State
2003-03-28
When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, the Democratic party
Silver Dream Racer
1980-06-13
Nick Freeman is a motorcycle racer who, following the death of his brother, inherits a revolutionary
Roy Orbison: One of the Lonely Ones
2015-12-29
Using previously unseen performances, a biography of rock balladeer Roy Orbison told through his own
The Mandela Effect
2019-12-06
A man becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands
The Bad Education Movie
2015-08-21
Mr Wickers and his class go on one final school trip after they finish their GCSEs.
Division 19
2017-02-24
In 2039, jails have been turned into online portals where the public gets to choose what prisoners e
A Casualty of War
1989-12-02
David Threlfall stars as Tom Rowse, a retired British secret service agent turned thriller novelist
Come Away
2020-11-12
Before Alice went to Wonderland, and before Peter became Pan, they were brother and sister. When the
King
1984-04-03
A man who has had a good life in England wants to retire to Jamaica, but the celebration with his da
Da 5 Bloods
2020-06-12
Four African-American Vietnam veterans return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their
Facelift
1984-04-21
In a dystopian future, the population is divided between the elite "numbers" and the destitute "name
Harriet
2019-11-01
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of Americ
Christmas Under the Stars
2019-11-16
When Nick is fired from his high-powered investment firm at Christmastime, he takes a job at a Chris
An Acceptable Loss
2019-01-18
Former top U.S. security adviser Elizabeth "Libby" Lamm is threatened by associates from her dark pa
Rebirth in New Orleans
2016-09-21
The New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans, from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the r
Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes
2020-09-13
Told in Count Basie's own words, this biography sheds light on both the professional and the private
Fats Domino and The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll
2016-02-26
One of the most popular rockers of the 1950s and early 60s, Fats Domino and his record sales were ri
Death Train
1993-04-14
When a renegade Russian general sends a nuclear bomb hurtling toward the Middle East aboard a hijack
Letters Live from the Archive: Freemasons’ Hall
2021-03-15
Inspired by "Letters of Note", the bestselling anthology compiled by Shaun Usher, and "To the Letter
The Royale
2021-04-22
Charismatic African-American boxer Jay “The Sport” Jackson has a burning desire to become the undisp
The Opera Game
2019-02-03
The tortured life of Paul Morphy (1850s New Orleans chess prodigy) is examined.
Tapping the Wire
2007-07-01
Long-time Wire fan Charlie Brooker takes a journey to the mean streets of Baltimore to meet the cast
Turnipseed
2009-11-09
This is a story of tragic loss and blessed gain. This is the story of John Turnipseed, who spent his
Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin
2024-11-20
As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer joins a deadly plot to assass
BBC Proms - The Golden Age of Broadway
2022-06-02
Smell the greasepaint and feel the blaze of those Broadway lights, as the BBC Concert Orchestra whis
Bumps
2020-02-21
A sixty-two-year-old divorcee with two grown-up children and no sign any grandchildren on the way de
K-PAX
2001-10-26
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tri