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Peter Berg (born March 11, 1962) is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown and Hancock. As an actor he is best known for his role as Dr. Billy Kronk on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope.
Life and career
Berg was born in New York City, New York. He is the son of Sally and Larry Berg. His mother co-founded a youth group named Catalog for Giving and worked at a psychiatric hospital when Berg was growing up. He has a younger sister, Mary. After graduating high school from The Taft School, Berg attended Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he majored in theater arts and theater history. He graduated in 1984, and in 1985 moved to Los Angeles to pursue his film career. Berg put his acting aspirations on hold when he first arrived in Los Angeles, choosing instead to learn about the film business as a production assistant. In 1992 Berg gained recognition for playing a World War II soldier in the film A Midnight Clear. In 1998, Berg made his feature directorial debut with Very Bad Things, a black comedy starring Jon Favreau, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven, Daniel Stern, and Leland Orser as a group of men behaving badly. The film, which was shown at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals, received a fairly mixed critical reception. Nonetheless, Berg continued to be a presence behind the camera. In 2000, he created Wonderland, an edgy dramatic television series set in an asylum. While the ABC show received rave reviews and garnered a cult following, it failed to deliver ratings and was quickly cancelled.
Berg finally found himself with a hit on his hands in 2003 with The Rundown. Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Seann William Scott, the Berg-helmed action comedy was well-received by critics and managed to score well at the box-office. In 2004, Berg began work on his third directorial effort, Friday Night Lights, a football film based on the New York Times Bestseller written by Buzz Bissinger.
In 2006, Berg developed and became executive producer of NBC's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning drama Friday Night Lights, based on the novel and film of the same name.
Berg followed up in 2007 with The Kingdom, a Michael Mann-produced political thriller set in Saudi Arabia, starring Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper, also with Jennifer Garner whom Berg met when he appeared in a two-part episode of Alias where he played Garner's ex-boyfriend. Berg's latest film, Hancock, starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman was one of the biggest grossing films of 2008.
Berg recently directed the Hulu.com commercial featuring Alec Baldwin, which both The New York Times and Time magazine named best spot of Super Bowl XLIII. In 2009, Berg directed a two-hour pilot movie for a Fox television series Virtuality. Even though the show was not picked up for a full season, the pilot was released on DVD exclusively through Best Buy. Berg also directed the ESPN documentary "Kings Ransom" in 2009. Berg also wrote the 2010 film The Losers.
As of 2010, Berg has multiple films in production. The Universal Pictures released Battleship is in pre-production, with a March 25, 2012 release date. Other films include the sequel to Berg's 2008 super hero film Hancock, the film adaptation of Marcus Lutrell's book Lone Survivor, and a live-action version of the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars.
Personal life
On August 28, 1993, Berg married long-time girlfriend Elizabeth Rogers; they divorced in 1998. Berg has a son, Emmett, who was born November 1999. Berg dated Estella Warren for four years until spring 2006 when they ended their relationship. He is also the cousin of writer H. G. Bissinger, whose book Friday Night Lights provides the basis for the film and TV series. Berg is Jewish, and has another son, named Kolby.
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