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Peter Facinelli (born November 26, 1973) appears in all five movies of the Twilight Saga as Carlisle Cullen. He has also starred in FOX's 2002 television series Fastlane and portrayed Dr. Fitch Cooper on Nurse Jackie.

Early life

Facinelli grew up in Ozone Park, Queens. He is the son of Italian immigrants Bruna, a homemaker, and Pierino Facinelli, a waiter. He attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, NY. He studied acting 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

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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 in the 1997 AIDS-themed drama Touch Me (1997), and co-starred as a high school student in two 1998 features, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, and Can't Hardly Wait.

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 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.

After wrapping up Finding Amanda, Facinelli played Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight. He reprised his role in New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

He co-starred as Dr. Fitch Cooper in the dark comedy series Nurse Jackie from 2009-2015.

Facinelli appeared in 2012 as a pickpocket who finds out he's about to be a father in the film Loosies, which he wrote. The film was quickly very successful.

Currently, Peter is starring on CBS' Supergirl as Maxwell Lord, the main antagonist of the show.

Twilight

When his agent first asked him about the role, he said no, assuming a movie about vampires meant it was about blood and guts. His agent told him that Catherine Hardwicke was directing and got him to read the novel. He says "I loved the love story set in this world of vampires, but more than that, I liked that it's about vampires exploring humanity rather than just being a vampire."[1] He auditioned but was considered too young for the part. "They wanted an older actor. Carlisle is young in the book, but visually I was told they wanted his character to look a lot older than the kids."[1] The other actor had another role that conflicted with Twilight's filming and quit. Hardwicke didn't know who to cast as Carlisle until she received a gift basket from Peter Facinelli. "I basically bribed my way into Twilight," laughs Facinelli during an interview.

Facinelli chose not to do an English accent for the character of Carlisle. He explains "I never thought of doing that because he is English, but a long time ago, over 300 years ago. I thought he would have adapted to his surroundings. I wound up doing a more standard American accent."[1] He goes on to point out that he was happy that Stephenie Meyer agreed with him because he didn't ask her about it until after filming had started.

Peter Facinelli, named P-Fach by Twilighters, is well known to be a joker on set. In interviews he has referred to many instances where he has played practical jokes on other cast members. In this interview at Twi-Con 2009, he spoke of a funny moment on the set of New Moon where he found a card that said "You are not what you do. Even though you're going through troubled times, know you will find a job that is right for you" so he bought it and gave it to Robert Pattinson as a joke. He then encouraged Rob to give it to Kristen Stewart who "got mad at him". He also gave the card to many of the cast member and also New Moon director Chris Weitz.

Personal life

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Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth

Facinelli met his wife, Jennie Garth, on the set of An Unfinished Affair, a 1996 made-for-TV movie. They married on January 20, 2001. He and Garth have three daughters together: Luca Bella (June 30, 1997), Lola Ray (December 6, 2002) and Fiona Eve (September 30, 2006). On March 28, 2012, Facinelli filed for divorce.

He is currently engaged to actress Jamie Alexander whom he met while shooting his film Loosies.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1995 The Price of Love Brett TV
Angela Lucifer
1996 Calm at Sunset James Pfeiffer TV
After Jimmy Jimmy Stapp TV
Fox Fire Ethan Bixby
An Unfinished Affair Rick Connor TV
1997 Touch Me Bail
1998 Telling You Phil Fazzulo
Can't Hardly Wait Mike Dexter
Dancer, Texas Pop Terrell Lee Lusk
1999 Blue Ridge Fall Danny Shepherd
The Big Kahuna Bob Walker
2000 Honest Daniel Wheaton
Ropewalk Charlie
Supernova Karl Larson
2001 Riding in Cars with Boys Tommy Butcher
Tempted Jimmy Mulate
Rennie's Landing Alec Nichols
2002 Fastlane Donovan 'Van' Ray TV series
The Scorpion King Takmet
2003–2005 Six Feet Under Jimmy
2005 The Lather Effect Danny
Chloe
Enfants terribles Curtis
2006 Hollow Man 2
Touch the Top of the World Erik Weihenmayer TV
2007 Damages Gregory Malina TV
Lily
2008 Finding Amanda Greg
Chelsea Lately Himself
Twilight Carlisle Cullen
2009 The Twilight Saga: New Moon Carlisle Cullen
2010 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Carlisle Cullen
2011 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Carlisle Cullen
2012 Loosies Bobby
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Carlisle Cullen
2013 Glee Rupert Campion 4 episodes
Gallows Hill David Reynolds
2014 Freezer Detective Sam Gurov
2015 Walter Jim
2015-present Supergirl Maxwell Lord 2 episodes

Trivia

  • Facinelli's favorite book from the Twilight Saga is Eclipse.
  • Facinelli says that he is on Team Edward because he "has a root for his boy (Edward)".

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 'Twilight' Countdown: Peter Facinelli says he's on Team Edward Denise Martin, latimesblog, November 11, 2008

External links

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