Peter Facinelli is an American actor and producer.
He became known as the star of Fox's 2002 television series Fastlane.
He plays Dr. 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, a homemaker, and Pierino Facinelli, a waiter.
His parents are from the Val di Non valley, 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 his then-future wife Jennie Garth in An Unfinished Affair.
Other TV roles followed, including a part in After Jimmy 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 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 continued his portrayal in the sequels of the film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon,
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.
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.
In 2011 he also wrote and produced the Hallmark Channel telefilm Accidentally in Love which
starred his then-wife Jennie Garth.
Personal life Facinelli met actress Jennie Garth on the
set of An Unfinished Affair in 1995.
Facinelli and Garth married on January 20, 2001, in a traditional Roman Catholic ceremony.
They have three daughters: Luca Bella, Lola Ray, and Fiona Eve.
In March 2012, Facinelli filed for divorce from Garth and it was finalized in June 2013.
Filmography
References
External links Official website
Peter Facinelli at the Internet Movie Database Peter Facinelli at AllMovie
Peter Facinelli on Twitter