Peter Facinelli biography

Peter Facinelli (pronounced fah-CHIN-elly; born November 26, 1973) is an American actor. He became known as the star of Fox's 2002 television series Fastlane. He plays Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight series. He is also well known for his role as Mike Dexter in the film Can't Hardly Wait. He is currently a regular on the television series Nurse Jackie portraying the role of Dr. Fitch "Coop" Cooper.

Early life

Facinelli grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, the son of Italian immigrants, Bruna (née Reich), a homemaker, and Pierino Facinelli, a waiter. His parents are from Val di Non which is located in Trentino, Northern Italy. His father is from Revò, while his mother is from Spormaggiore. He was raised Roman Catholic and attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, New York. He studied acting at New York University, as well as at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School in New York City; his teachers there included William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Giancarlo Esposito, and Camryn Manheim.

Career

Facinelli made his feature film debut in Rebecca Miller's Angela in 1995 and came to the attention of critics in the TV-movie The Price of Love later that year. In 1996, Facinelli played opposite future wife Jennie Garth in An Unfinished Affair. Other TV roles followed, including a part in After Jimmy (1996) and a college dropout in Calm at Sunset. Facinelli co-starred with Amanda Peet and Michael Vartan in the 1997 AIDS-themed drama Touch Me (1997) and co-starred as a high school student in two 1998 features with Ethan Embry and Breckin Meyer, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, and Can't Hardly Wait, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Facinelli appeared in the sci-fi film Supernova starring James Spader in 2000. He made appearances in Riding in Cars with Boys in 2001 and The Scorpion King in 2002, followed by a leading role in the Fox drama Fastlane. Facinelli had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under in 2004 and a role in the FX original series Damages beginning in 2007. Facinelli starred in Hollow Man 2 with Christian Slater. It was released direct-to-video in May 2006.
After wrapping up Finding Amanda with Matthew Broderick, Facinelli played Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer According to an interview, "I almost didn’t read for Twilight. My agent said, “Do you want to do a vampire movie?” And I was like, “No.” I was totally thinking blood and guts and bats in caves, like some kind of horror movie. They literally talked me into reading the book and I actually enjoyed the book a lot." Facinelli reprised his role in the sequels of the film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. He will also continue to portray the role in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which released on November 18, 2011.
He stars as Dr. Fitch Cooper in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie.
He is the founder of the production company Facinelli Films. Their first feature film Loosies, which was written entirely by Facinelli, was filmed in 2011. He starred in the film, which is a story of a New York pickpocket that being produced by Verdi Corrente Productions.

Personal life

Facinelli met Jennie Garth, on the set of An Unfinished Affair, a 1996 television film. They married in 2001. They are parents to Luca Bella (born on June 30, 1997), Lola Ray (born on December 6, 2002), and Fiona Eve (born on September 30, 2006). On March 28, 2012, Facinelli filed for divorce.

Fun Facts

Daughter, Luca Bella, with Jennie Garth. [1997]

Met Jennie Garth while filming An Unfinished Affair (1996) (TV).

Grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, New York.

Studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, New York City, New York under such teachers as William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Giancarlo Esposito and Camryn Manheim.

Italian-American.

Birth of his second daughter, Lola Ray (7 lbs. 7 oz., 18 inches) with wife, actress Jennie Garth. [December 6, 2002]

Attended St. Francis Preparatory High School in Fresh Meadows, New York.

Peter and his wife, Jennie Garth, became the parents of their third child, a girl named Fiona Eve Facinelli, on September 30, 2006. Fiona weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz.

Is no longer a vegetarian since he played Carlisle Cullen in Twilight.

 

Filmography

Film and Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	The Price of Love	Brett	TV
1995	Angela	Lucifer
1995	Law & Order	Shane Sutter	1 episode
1996	Calm at Sunset	James Pfeiffer	TV
1996	After Jimmy	Jimmy Stapp	TV
1996	Foxfire	Ethan Bixby
1996	An Unfinished Affair	Rick Connor	TV
1997	Touch Me	Bail
1998	Telling You	Phil Fazzulo
1998	Welcome to Hollywood	Actor
1998	Can't Hardly Wait	Mike Dexter
1998	Dancer, Texas Pop. 81	Terrell Lee Lusk
1999	Blue Ridge Fall	Danny Shepherd
1999	The Big Kahuna	Bob Walker
2000	Honest	Daniel Wheaton
2000	Ropewalk	Charlie
2000	Supernova	Karl Larson
2001	Riding in Cars with Boys	Tommy Butcher
2001	Tempted	Jimmy Mulate
2001	Stealing Time	Alec Nichols
2002– 2003	Fastlane	Donovan 'Van' Ray	TV Series with Tiffani Thiessen
2002	The Scorpion King	Takmet
2003– 2005	Six Feet Under	Jimmy	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2005)
2005	The Lather Effect	Danny
2005	Chloe
2005	Enfants terribles	Curtis
2006	Hollow Man 2	Det. Frank Turner	Video
2006	Touch the Top of the World	Erik Weihenmayer	TV
2006	Arc	Paris Pritchert	Indie Gathering Award for Best Actor
2007	Damages	Gregory Malina	TV
2007	Lily	The Man
2007	That Guy	Jack
2007	Battle Olympia	Possessed Office High Jumper
2008	Finding Amanda	Greg
2008	Reaper	Jesus
2008	Twilight	Dr. Carlisle Cullen
2009	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	Dr. Carlisle Cullen
2009	Nurse Jackie	Dr. Fitch "Coop" Cooper	2009–present
2010	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Dr. Carlisle Cullen
2011	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1	Dr. Carlisle Cullen
2012	Loosies	Bobby
2012	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2	Dr. Carlisle Cullen	Post-Production
2012	The Absinthe Drinkers	Lucciola	Filming.