Peter Berg

Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor.

Berg was born in 1964 in New York City, the son of Laurence "Larry" Berg, a US Marine, and Sally (née 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 nonprofit directory of youth-focused charities 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.

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).

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), Shocker (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).

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.

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.

He appeared in Late for Dinner and Crooked Hearts in 1991.

In 1992, Berg gained recognition for playing a World War II soldier in the film A Midnight Clear.

As an actor, he is best known for his role as Dr. Billy Kronk on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope (1995–1999).

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 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 television, Berg created the ABC series Wonderland (2000).

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 Johnson and Seann William Scott, the film received mixed reviews from critics and 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.

He developed the NBC series Friday Night Lights (2006–2011), adapted from his film, earning two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

In 2006, Berg developed and became executive producer of NBC's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning drama Friday Night Lights, which takes inspiration from the book and Berg's film of the same name, but features an original storyline and new characters.

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 named best spot of Super Bowl XLIII.

In 2009, Berg directed a two-hour pilot movie for the 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 30 for 30: 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."