IESB: What initially attracted you to acting? Was there someone or something that inspired you to do it, or did you just know that you wanted to be a performer?
Peter: No, I was the opposite of a performer. I was really shy, when I was growing up. I saw a movie called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in third grade, and I thought Paul Newman and Robert Redford looked like they were having a really good time, and I said, "That's what I want to do, when I grow up." I always was inspired by Paul Newman and Robert Redford to want to be an actor, but I never really did anything about it because I was shy. So, all through high school, I never did a play.
Not until college, did I start to do acting. I transferred into NYU from St. John's University and started studying theater. I was going to take law because it seemed to impress people in my family when I said, "I want to be a lawyer when I grow up." One time, I told them that I wanted to be an actor and they all looked at me like I had five heads. The next time they asked me what I wanted to be, I said, "A lawyer," and I got a lot of oohs and aahs in the family. When you watch movies and you watch Law & Order, it looks so interesting.
IESB: When did you realize that you were not meant for a law career?
Peter: I did one year at St. John's University, and I studied pre-law and I worked for a law firm, and I realized that lawyers spend most of their time trying not to go to court. They look for precedents so they don't have to go to court. They told me that court was the last place you want to be. I was like, "Well, that's what I want to do. I like the courtroom drama," and they were like, "Well, then you need to do something else."
So, I threw away the courtroom drama and just went straight for the drama, and I transferred to NYU. I told my parents, "To be a good lawyer, I have to be a good actor, so I'm going to take acting classes at NYU and study theater there," and they bought it. And then, I started working, right out of NYU. So, when my parents realized it was something that I could do, they were behind it.
IESB: What was the point where you realized that you could actually make a living and a career out of acting?
Peter: I don't think I ever thought I wouldn't make a living or a career out of it. I never had a back-up plan. For me, it was always a do or die kind of thing. When people ask me if there's any advice that I'd give them, I say, "Don't have a back-up plan ‘cause you'll use it." I didn't have a back-up plan. I started working, out of college, and I just went from job to job and never looked back. I always made my living, from that point on, as an actor. I never thought that I wouldn't.
IESB: You seem to constantly be working now, and yet you manage to successfully maintain a marriage and family in an industry where that seems impossible. Do you feel like you've succeeded at finding a balance between work and family, or is it a constant juggling act?
Peter: It's always a constant juggling act. While I'm doing this interview with you, I'm standing in the Empire State Building with my kids, who are hanging out, waiting for me, so I can take them up to the top. You're always juggling, back and forth. I just take it day-by-day, and then all those days add up, and you look back and that's your life.
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