How Peter Dinklage became the beloved ‘Game of Thrones’ bad boy

By Melia Robinson from Business Insider

“A Lannister always pays his debts.”

Actor Peter Dinklage, however, has few debts to pay.

The Jersey-born actor essentially bootstrapped his career, living as a self-described starving artist for years before reaching his “Game of Thrones” success.

Now appearing as the brilliant villain in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” Dinklage ranks among Hollywood’s most-wanted actors — and just happens to be a dwarf.

See his meteoric rise to fame.

Peter Dinklage was born to a Morristown, New Jersey, couple in the summer of ’69. He said his childhood was “uneventful” — his father sold insurance, and his mother taught music at an elementary school.

Peter Dinklage was born to a Morristown, New Jersey, couple in the summer of ’69. He said his childhood was “uneventful” — his father sold insurance, and his mother taught music at an elementary school.

Source: Esquire

His parents never treated him like he was special, Dinklage says, despite being the only dwarf in his family. The chance of being born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that causes abnormalities in bone formation, is 1 in 25,000.

Source: Esquire

The Dinklages didn’t even have a TV set in the house — or so he thought. In his teens, Peter discovered his parents watching a black-and-white TV they had purchased and hid in the bedroom closet. “It was ‘Three’s Company’ from then on out,” he says.

He attended the Delbarton School, an all-boys Catholic institution where he “didn’t really fit in.” But he picked up a passion for acting from an eccentric priest with an extensive VHS collection.

The Kountze Mansion, also known as “Old Main,” on Delbarton School’s campus.

Source: NJ.com, Esquire

As a teenager, he decided to become a vegetarian. “At the time I was doing it because of my love for animals,” Dinklage says, “but also for a girl. Of course.” He’s stuck with it through the years.

Source: Reddit

While a student at Bennington College in Vermont, Dinklage appeared in school productions, drank a lot, and rocked long-flowing hippie hair. Friends called him “Dink.”

YouTube screenshot

Dinklage was the Class of 2012’s commencement speaker.

Source: Esquire

After graduating in 1991, he and a classmate moved into an apartment under the Williamsburg Bridge (back when you could live in that neighborhood on the cheap). They dreamed of opening a theater company.

(Source: Esquire, The New York Times)

He played in a punk-funk-rap band called Whizzy, which gave him a battle scar that runs from his neck to his eyebrow. He was once bouncing (and drinking) on stage, when he was accidentally kneed in the temple. “I just grabbed a dirty bar napkin and dabbed my head and went on with the show.”

Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Source: Playboy

He worked nearly seven years at a company called Professional Examination Service. “I still don’t know what the company did,” Dinklage admits. “I just like, plugged information into a computer … I called in sick every Friday because I would go out Thursday night with my friends.”

Source: Esquire

Dinklage continued to pursue a career in writing and acting. Standing at 4-feet-5-inches, he refused to audition for or accept gigs that would cast him as a leprechaun or elf.

Andrew H. Walker/Getty

Actors Sarah Ries and Dinklage perform in the “24 Hour Plays” at the Atlantic Theater in 2008.

Source: Esquire

His breakout came in 2003, when a screenwriter-friend wrote a leading role with Dinklage in mind. “Station Agent” — about an introverted train aficionado grieving the death of his friend — snared Dinklage his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Source: Esquire, The New York Times

Later that year, he appeared alongside Kate Beckinsale and Matthew McConaughey in “Tiptoes,” about a family of all dwarves. Gary Oldman played a dwarf by wearing a harness to shorten his arms and walking on his knees. “There was some flak,” Dinklage says. “I have my own opinions about political correctness, but I was just like: ‘It’s Gary Oldman. He can do whatever he wants.'”

Source: The New York Times

He played a pugnacious children’s author in “Elf.” Early in the movie, he beat up Will Ferrell’s character for confusing him with the North Pole elves.

YouTube screenshot

Source: NPR

The next 10 years, Dinklage would keep busy with small film roles and TV cameos. He voiced Captain Gutt in an “Ice Age” film, dated Liz Lemon on “30 Rock,” and acted in both the American and British versions of “Death at a Funeral.”

When “Game of Thrones” cocreator David Benioff (right) approached him with a role in HBO’s new series, Dinklage had one hesitation. “Because of the fantasy genre, I told him I didn’t really want long beard and pointy shoes, and they assured me this character and this world wasn’t that,” he says. “They told me about his complexity — the fact that he wasn’t a hero or a villain, that he was a womanizer and a drinker — and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him. So I signed on.”

Frederick M. Brown/Getty

Actors Emilia Clarke, Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, writer and executive producer D.B. Weiss, writer George R.R. Martin, and writer and executive producer David Benioff speak during the “Game of Thrones” panel at the HBO portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour.

Source: Reddit

Dinklage admitted he was cautious after spending a seven-month shoot on “Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” in Eastern Europe and New Zealand sweating under a long red beard.

His “GoT” character, Tyrion Lannister, is the black sheep of a wealthy family, who responds to his physical limitations with wit and cunning. George R. R. Martin, who wrote the series “GoT” is based on, says it’s easy to see why Tyrion is a fan-favorite. “My readers identify with the outcast, with the underdog, with the person who’s struggling rather than the golden boy,” he says.

“Game Of Thrones”

Source: The New York Times

The cast films in Croatia and Ireland six days a week. His favorite memories are filming with Conleth Hill (Lord Varys) and Lena Headey (Cersei), who he has to avoid eye contact with while filming serious scenes to keep from cracking up.

Paul Schiraldi/HBO/AP

Dinklage has won an Emmy and Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor. In an acceptance speech, he encouraged viewers to Google search Martin Henderson, a 4-foot-2-inch British man who had been recently picked up and thrown by an unknown assailant.

Phil McCarten/AP

Source: The New York Times

His wife Erica Schmidt, a director, accompanies him to many events. The couple have a house in upstate New York, a 2-year-old daughter named Zelig, and a 100-pound Labrador-Great-Dane-Pointer mix.

Evan Agostini/AP

Source: Esquire, The New York Times

You can currently see Dinklage on the big screen as the genius psychologist-villain, Bolivar Trask, in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” He revealed in a recent Reddit AMA that he thinks the comic books are “just so super cool.”

He once said in an interview that he wanted to reach a point in his career where he could be the lead and “get the girl.” He’s since had a change of heart. “The leads are often the boring part. Maybe I’ll have to take that back. I like playing the guys on the sidelines. They have more fun.”

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