John Peter Sarsgaard (/ˈsɑːrzɡɑːrd/; born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. His first feature role was in Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), playing Raoul, the ill-fated son of Athos. Sarsgaard later achieved critical recognition when he was cast in Boys Don't Cry (1999) as John Lotter. He landed his first leading role in the 2001 film The Center of the World.
For his portrayal of Charles Lane in Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. Sarsgaard has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including Garden State, Kinsey (both 2004), Jarhead (2005), Elegy (2008), An Education (2009), Lovelace (2013), Night Moves (2013), Blue Jasmine (2013), Black Mass (2015), Jackie (2016), and The Lost Daughter (2021). He is also known for his performances in the blockbuster films Green Lantern (2011), Knight and Day (2010), The Magnificent Seven (2016) and The Batman (2022).
Sarsgaard is also known for his television roles including the AMC/Netflix crime series The Killing (2013). He portrayed Martin Schmidt in the Hulu series The Looming Tower for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries nomination. In 2021, he had a main role on the Hulu miniseries Dopesick, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Sarsgaard has appeared in Off-Broadway productions including Kingdom of Earth, Laura Dennis, Burn This, and Uncle Vanya. In September 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in The Seagull. He is married to Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Early life
John Peter Sarsgaard was born at Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois, on March 7, 1971, the son of Judy Lea (née Reinhardt) and John Dale Sarsgaard. His father was an Air Force engineer and later worked for Monsanto and IBM. His surname originates in Denmark, where his paternal great-great-grandparents were born; it is pronounced in Danish.
Sarsgaard was raised a Catholic and served as an altar boy. His family moved more than 12 times during his childhood, following his father's job. At the age of 7, Sarsgaard originally wanted to become a soccer player and took up ballet to help improve his coordination. After suffering several concussions while playing soccer, he gave up the sport and became interested in writing and theater. He attended Fairfield College Preparatory School, a private Jesuit boys' school in Connecticut, where he became interested in film.
Following his graduation from Fairfield Prep in 1989, he attended Bard College in New York for two years before transferring to Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) in 1991, where he co-founded an improvisational comedy troupe "Mama's Pot Roast". While at WUSTL, Sarsgaard began performing in plays in an offshoot of New York's Actors Studio; His first role was as the servant Laurent in Molière's Tartuffe. In 1993, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and moved to New York.
