Peter Greene

Peter Greene

An actor with publicized demons, Peter Greene made a name for himself with his ability to convey raw yet quiet menace. Born and raised in New Jersey, Greene headed to New York as a teenager, but did not discover acting until his mid-20s. Trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Greene acted in several plays and made his film debut as one of the central thieves in Nick Gomez's edgy New York story Laws of Gravity (1991). Burnishing his baleful screen presence with performances as an insane father in the violent indie Clean, Shaven (1993) and a gangster in Judgment Night (1993), Greene relocated to Hollywood and made his intense presence felt in a trio of hit films. Following a substantial supporting role as one of the bad guys in the Jim Carrey comedy The Mask (1994), Greene played small yet crucial parts in two key 1990s gangster films: the infamous sadist (and chopper owner) Zed in Pulp Fiction (1994) and the sinister fence Redfoot in The Usual Suspects (1995). Following his performance as a blackmailer in The Rich Man's Wife (1996), Greene went into rehab to kick a near-lethal drug addiction. After his release, Greene returned to playing the heavy in both indie and Hollywood productions, including a bad cop in Bang (1997), Martin Lawrence's former criminal partner in Blue Streak (1999), and one of Ben Stiller's drug buddies in the addiction memoir Permanent Midnight (1998). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide