Postlethwaite was born in Warrington, England, to parents William & Mary Geraldine Postlethwaite. He followed a normal educational upbringing, attending Lymm High School and did not enroll in acting classes until he was 24. Postlethwaite was a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company and other acting troupes by the time he became known in the United States through his film and television roles. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. One of his earliest long term relationships was with subsequent Oscar nominee, Julie Walters.
Postlethwaite's first success came with the film
Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in
In the Name of the Father in 1993.
He is also well known for his role as Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in the period television drama series,
Sharpe, alongside Sean Bean. His performance as the mysterious lawyer "Kobayashi" in
The Usual Suspects is also well-known, and he later made appearances in several successful films, including
The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News and
The Constant Gardener. In 2003, he was both the physical and vocal actor for the villain Deeth in
Zixx: Level One, a Canadian TV series created by IDT Entertainment.
Steven Spielberg called Pete Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world", of which Postlethwaite says: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"
He was made an OBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours List.
He lives in Shropshire with his wife and their two children.
- Treasure Island (1990) (TV)
- The Grass Arena (1991)
- Alien 3 (1992)
- Split Second (1992)
- The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
- In the Name of the Father (1993)
- Sharpe's Company (1994) (TV)
- Suite 16 (1994)
- Sharpe's Enemy (1994) (TV)
- Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) (TV)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- When Saturday Comes (1996)
- Brassed Off (1996)
- Dragonheart (1996)
- James and the Giant Peach (1996)
- William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Alice in Wonderland (1999)
- Wayward Son (1999)
- Animal Farm (1999)
- Rat (2000)
- The Shipping News (2001)
- Dark Water (2005)
- Aeon Flux (2005)
- The Constant Gardener (2005)
- The Omen (2006)
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This information was taken from the Wikipedia.org website.
