Best Known As: Dr. Billy Kronk on TV's Chicago Hope
Actor-turned-director Peter Berg gained his Hollywood credentials in the 1990s, on TV as hockey-loving Dr. Kronk in the medical drama Chicago Hope (1995-99), and in films such as The Last Seduction (1994) and Copland (1997, starring Sylvester Stallone). He then wrote and directed Very Bad Things (1998, with Cameron Diaz), and since then he's carved out a career as a producer-director who occasionally appears on screen in acting roles. As a director his credits include the cable TV show Wonderland (2000) and the feature films The Rundown (2003, starring The Rock), Friday Night Lights (2004, starring Billy Bob Thornton), The Kingdom (2007, starring Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx) and Hancock (2008, starring Will Smith). As an actor his credits include Collateral (2004, starring Tom Cruise) and Smokin' Aces (2006).
Born: Mar 11, 1964 in Manhattan, New York, New York
Occupation: Actor, Director, Writer
Active: '80s-2000s
Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
Career Highlights: The Last Seduction, Cop Land, A Midnight Clear
First Major Screen Credit: Never on Tuesday (1988)
Biography
Onscreen from the late '80s, actor Peter Berg first made a memorable impression in A Midnight Clear (1992), playing one of a group of soldiers stationed in Germany during World War II. The muscular, strong-jawed actor had his real screen breakthrough with John Dahl's critically acclaimed The Last Seduction (1994), a neo-noir that cast him as Linda Fiorentino's unwitting, hormonally misguided accomplice. Berg's subsequent roles tended to be in films of middling quality, and it was for his work on the popular TV series Chicago Hope that he received the most recognition.
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 as a group of men behaving badly. The film, which was shown at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals, received a fairly mixed critical reception. Nonetheless, Berg continued to be a presence behind the camera. In 2000, he created Wonderland, an edgy dramatic television series set in an asylum. While the ABC show recieved rave reviews and garnered a cult following, it failed to deliver ratings and was quickly cancelled.
Berg finally found himself with a hit on his hands in 2003 with The Rundown. Starring The Rock and Seann William Scott, the Berg-helmed action comedy was well-received by critics and managed to score well at the box-office. In 2004, Berg began work on his third directorial effort, Friday Night Lights, a football film he also scripted. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
Berg was born in New York City, New York. He is the son of Sally and Larry Berg. His mother co-founded a youth group named Catalog for Giving and worked at a psychiatric hospital when Berg was growing up.[1] He has a younger sister, Mary. After graduating high school from The Taft School, 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 has one son, named Kolby.
Personal life
On August 28, 1993, Berg married long-time girlfriend Elizabeth Rogers; they divorced in 1997. Berg has a son, Emmett, who was born November 1999. Berg dated Estella Warren[citation needed] for four years until spring 2006 when they ended their relationship. He is also the cousin of writer H. G. Bissinger, whose book Friday Night Lights provides the basis for the film and TV series. Berg is Jewish.[2]
The Kingdom accident
While shooting the film The Kingdom on location in Mesa, Arizona Berg was involved in a fatal accident that resulted in the death of another member of the production team. The SUV he was riding in collided with a Gatorall-terrain vehicle driven by Nick Papac. Papac died three hours later. On August 8, 2008, Papac's parents Michael Papac and Michele Bell filed suit against the director, a driver and the production company.[3] The lawsuit was dropped in 2008.[4]
