Peter Greene (born Peter Green; October 8, 1965) is an American actor. A character actor, he is generally known for portraying villains. He is best known for the roles in the 1994 films The Mask, where he plays the film's antagonist, Dorian Tyrell, and Pulp Fiction, in which he portrayed Zed, a sadistic security guard, rapist, and serial killer who serves as an antagonist in the film.
Early life
A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Greene did not pursue a career in acting until his mid-20s. He initially landed several roles in cinema and television in the early 1990s.
Film career
Greene had roles in Pulp Fiction; The Mask; Clean, Shaven; and The Usual Suspects in 1994 and 1995. In Pulp Fiction, Greene appeared as Zed, who rapes Marsellus Wallace. The Mask saw him play the villainous Dorian Tyrell opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz. Greene played the schizophrenic Peter Winter in Clean, Shaven. The Usual Suspects saw him play the character of Redfoot. Greene often plays villains, such as in Judgment Night, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Training Day (as a corrupt narcotics officer) and martial arts/crime film Fist of the Warrior (opposite Ho-Sung Pak, Roger Guenveur Smith and Sherilyn Fenn).
Greene worked with director Jordan Alan twice: once on the film Kiss and Tell, a dark comic turn and then again four years later in The Gentleman Bandit (aka Gentleman B). After Greene's arrests in 1998 for drug related crimes, Alan had to put the actor through rehab to get him through the second film and eventually, after coming upon Greene doing heroin with Mike Starr, he was forced to replace Greene's voice because of the vocal problems caused by drugs. Despite these problems, Alan vouched for Greene to producer Tobe Jaffe for the movie Blue Streak, in which Greene played Martin Lawrence's nemesis.
Greene has continued to work mostly as a character actor. He appeared in the short-lived television drama The Black Donnellys. He also appeared as a policeman in Prodigy and Mobb Deep's video for "A,B,C's", as well as the focal character in House of Pain's video for "Fed Up". Greene appeared in the opening scene of the premiere of the FX series Justified where he was characterized as a "thuggish Peter Weller lookalike" by reviewer Scott Tobias, writing for The A.V. Club. He has appeared in two films by director Eric Brian Hughes: Turnabout and Exit 0. Greene appears in the digital series The Jersey Connection by filmmaker Tim Firtion. Greene was featured in the 2020 TV series For Life in a small role as an Aryan Brother named "Wild Bill" Miller.
Personal life
Greene struggled with heroin and cocaine addiction in the 1990s. In 2007, Greene was arrested for possessing crack cocaine.
