William Petersen
William Louis Petersen ( born February 21 1953 in Evanston, Illinois) is an American theater - film - television and video game actor, film entrepreneur, theater director and producer. He became famous for his portrayal of Will Graham in Manhunter and Gil Grissom in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Life
Petersen was born in 1953 in the city of Evanston, Illinois, but grew up in Boise, Idaho. His ancestors are in the fourth generation Americans of Danish and German descent, he is the youngest of six children. Petersen left the family at age 15 and moved to one of his brothers. In 1974 he moved with his future wife to Spain, where he married and had a daughter. In 1975, he graduated with a sports scholarship at Idaho State University and moved to Chicago, where he joined the Steppenwolf Theatre Company later. In 1979 he founded his own theater company in Chicago.
After small roles Petersen took over in 1985 the leading roles in the success of Live and Die in LA and Manhunter. In the latter (also known as Red Dragon ) is the first film adaptation of a Hannibal Lecter novel by Thomas Harris. The ability to establish itself as an action hero in the 1980s, he missed when he refused an offer in Oliver Stone's Vietnam drama Platoon ( 1986). He would have been thereby separated for a long time by his family and would have had to prepare a military training on the shooting. In 1990 he took over in The Kennedys of Massachusetts, the role of Joseph P. Kennedy, 1998, he presented John F. Kennedy in Frank, Dean & Sammy do it via the Rat Pack dar.
This was followed by increasingly small roles in films and television series, until he starred in the highly successful CBS series CSI in 2000: Crime Scene Investigation took over the track, which he co-produced later. In the role of the charismatic chief investigator Gilbert " Gil " Grissom its popularity increased immensely, 2004, he became Best series protagonist for a Golden Globe in the category - Drama nomination, 2005, he was with his CSI team the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance the actor of a TV series.
In some 2007 turned consequences of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation William Petersen was missing because he had a five-week appearance in the play Dublin Carol as John Plunkett. Petersen uses the popularity of his CSI character also to improve the position of forensic science in the U.S. justice system and the financial supply crime labs, but he pleaded on 15 May 2001, even before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Petersen earned 2007 for every CSI episode about $ 500,000 and was thus temporarily the highest paid performer series. From the eleventh episode of the ninth season, he was no longer working as a master actor on CSI. He retained, however, the series as executive producer and in the form of guest appearances. His role as chief investigator took over for the next few seasons Laurence Fishburne, who got out even after the eleventh season.
Petersen has from his first marriage divorced from 1974 to 1981 with Joanne Brady, a daughter born in 1975, by which he already has two grandchildren. In his second marriage he is married to the high school teacher Gina Cirone since 2003, both in 2011 by a surrogate parent of twins. Petersen has his own production company names High Horse.
On 3 February 2009, he received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.