Biography
Peter Douglas is a classically trained actor, writer and producer best known for work on such television shows as Modern Family (ABC), True Detective (HBO), The Mentalist (CBS), Masters of Sex (Showtime), The Rookie (Lifetime) and Bosch (Amazon).
Great nephew to screen and stage legends Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy, Peter was born and raised in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. At the age of seven, Peter staged his first play, his own one-man - or one-boy - adaptation of "The Empire Strikes Back." Playing every character, Peter lost his audience to laughter when he made out with himself in the first romantic scene between Han and Leia. Nonetheless, Peter had fallen in love with live theatrical performance and would continue performing throughout his youth.
In Catholic boys' school, Peter started to realize the extent of his natural vocal talents during productions of "Twelve Angry Men" and "To Kill A Mockingbird." However, it was in high school that Peter discovered his greatest theatrical love - Shakespeare. At the age of fifteen, Peter found himself playing the aging wizard and overly protective father Prospero in "The Tempest." The show was life-changing.
Insatiable in his desire to perform more Shakespeare, Peter auditioned for and was accepted to Interlochen Arts Camp near Traverse City, Michigan. In the summer of 1995, Peter was selected to play Henry V in the play by that name. He received the Director's Award and Robert C. Burroughs Outstanding Theater Award for his performance and was afforded the honor of performing selected scenes and monologues from "Henry V" for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At summer's end, the Interlochen faculty asked Peter if he would consider returning in 1996 to play Hamlet - the answer was an unequivocal yes. A year later, Peter was again awarded the Robert C. Burroughs Outstanding Theater Award, this time for his performance of Hamlet. Back in Washington, Peter performed ensemble roles in Bertolt Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle," Martin Duberman's "In White America," and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" (for which his aunt Shirley Jones is widely known). Following turns as Touchstone in Shakespeare's "As You Like It" and John Proctor in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," Peter interned for Victor Pappas at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, Washington and then went on to study Shakespeare with the Royal Shakespeare Company at their Midsummer at Oxford program in 1998. At Oxford, Peter had the privilege of studying with such brilliant stage actors and directors as Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Derek Jacobi, and Mark Wing-Davey (with whom Peter would later collaborate at Juilliard on the original Craig Lucas' musical "The Listener").
Throughout high school, Peter developed a serious interest in classical conservatory training. On the advice of one of his high school acting teachers, Peter crashed an audition that would get him face to face with The Juilliard School's Drama Division Chair, Michael Kahn. The audition went well. However, recognizing that Peter was serious about academics as well as acting, Kahn suggested that Peter first attend college before coming to Juilliard.
Peter took Kahn's advice and chose to study creative writing at Stanford University. While an undergraduate, Peter continued acting, playing various roles in student one acts, as well as parts in larger university productions, including Valentine in "Twelfth Night," Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and the horse in "Equus." At the same time, Peter became increasingly politically active, joining the ACLU, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International and interning for Senator Ted Kennedy and First Lady Hillary Clinton. As graduation approached, Peter considered law school and a career in public service, but the call to theater remained too strong.
To prepare for Juilliard auditions, Peter moved home to Maryland and started auditioning for regional theater productions. Peter's first professional work saw him play Agrippa in The Washington Shakespeare Company's production of "Antony & Cleopatra." Shortly thereafter, Peter was cast to star as Hal Carter in William Inge's "Picnic" directed by Steven Scott Mazzola at The American Century Theater. One of Peter's future classmates at Juilliard, Mary Rasmussen, played Millie. In fact, because the run of "Picnic" conflicted with Juilliard's New York City audition dates, Peter and Mary auditioned together a few weeks later in Chicago. A few months later, while rehearsing the role of Herakles in Studio Theater's post-9/11 production of "Prometheus," directed by Joy Zinoman, Peter received his Juilliard acceptance letter.
Over the next four years of conservatory training, Peter studied under the likes of John Stix, Richard Feldman, Moni Yakim, Chris Bayes, Becky Guy, Deb Lapidus, Ralph Zito, Darryl Quinton, Wendy Waterman, Kate Wilson and Mina Yakin and worked on a wide range of roles and productions, including Rooney in David Rabe's "Streamers" (dir. Becky Guy), Bodie in the original production of David Folwell's "Drug Buddy" (dir. Mark Nelson), and Ruckley in Dale Wasserman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (dir. Brian Mertes). For Juilliard's 100th anniversary celebration, Peter originated the role of Max in Craig Lucas and Michael Torke's musical "The Listener" (dir. Mark Wing-Davey) and toured Chicago and Los Angeles as Oberon & Theseus in Joe Dowling's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and as Canterbury in Director Sam Gold's groundbreaking production of Christopher Marlowe's "Edward II."
After graduating, Peter moved to Los Angeles and has since appeared on numerous television shows and in several independent feature films, including the anti-bullying, pro-LGBTQ film "Love Is All You Need?"
Peter now splits his time between Los Angeles and New York, teaching, acting in theater, film and television, and advocating for progressive political and social change.
