(born 27 August 1953) is a Swedish
film,
stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.
Early life
Stormare was born in
Kumla,
Närke, Sweden, the son of Teodolinda (
née Laparelli) and Renato Storm.
[Peter Stormare Biography (1953-)] He grew up in
Arbrå,
Hälsingland, Sweden as
Peter Ingvar Rolf Storm, but changed his surname when he discovered he shared it with a senior student at the acting academy. His original choice of name, Retep Mrots (his own name spelled backwards), was rejected. Just like "
storm" (a word which has the same meaning in Swedish and English), "stormare" is a Swedish word, meaning "stormer".
Career
Stormare began his career with the Swedish
Royal Dramatic Theatre, to which he belonged for eleven years. In 1990 he took a leading position (
Associate Artistic Director) at the
Tokyo Globe Theatre and made a name for himself through various Shakespeare performances including
Hamlet. Three years later, he went to
New York and mainly took part there in
English language productions. In
Sweden, he has worked with
Ingmar Bergman, by whom he was apparently discovered. He has also played
Carl Hamilton, a fictional Swedish
secret agent similar to
James Bond. He was discovered by international audiences for his critically acclaimed role as a quiet and ruthless villain (with
Steve Buscemi) in
Fargo (1996), and later played a sleazy, unlicensed "eye-doctor" named Solomon Eddie in
Minority Report. He portrayed Dieter Stark in the 1997 film
The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
