Peter William Postlethwaite OBE (born February 7, 1945) is an English actor.
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.[citation needed]
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 2 children.
Pete Postlethwaite will be performing at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare. He will play Prospero. The dates are, 30th May - 8th July 2007. He spoke about this role on Simon Mayo's radio show on BBC Radio Five Live. The interview is available as an MP3 download - Audio interview MP3
