Clarke Peters

About

Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series The Wire (2002–2008) and Albert Lambreaux in the television series Treme (2010–2013). He wrote the book for the musical revue Five Guys Named Moe (1990).
Peters is also known for his roles in the films Silver Dream Racer (1980), Endgame (2009), John Wick (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Harriet (2019), and Da 5 Bloods (2020), the lattermost of which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Peters was born Peter Clarke, the second of four sons of Martin, a commercial artist, and Loretta, a homemaker and clerical worker, in New York City, and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. Loretta had wanted to work as a professional dancer at the Cotton Club but her mother had forbidden her from doing so. At the age of 12, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of…