Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American actor, writer, and director, who has spent much of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series The Wire (2002–2008) and Albert Lambreaux in the television series Treme (2010–2013). He wrote the book for the musical revue Five Guys Named Moe (1990).
Peters is also known for his roles in the films Silver Dream Racer (1980), Endgame (2009), John Wick (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Harriet (2019), and Da 5 Bloods (2020), the lattermost of which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Early life Peters was born Peter Clarke, the second of four sons of Martin, a commercial artist, and Loretta, a homemaker and clerical worker, in New York City, and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. Loretta had wanted to work as a professional dancer at the Cotton Club but her mother had forbidden her from doing so. At the age of 12, he had his first theater experience, in a school production of My Fair Lady. He began to have serious ambitions to work in the theater at the age of 14. He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1970."Clarke Peters CV... 1970: Graduates from Dwight Morrow High School in New Jersey."
Career In 1971, Peters' older brother enabled him to work as a costume designer for a production in Paris, France, of the musical Hair, in which Peters later starred. In 1973, Peters moved to London and changed his name to Clarke Peters, because Equity already had a namesake member. While in London, he formed a soul band, The Majestics, and worked as a backup singer on such hits as "Love and Affection" by Joan Armatrading, "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, and some David Essex songs. However, music was not Peters' main ambition, and he preferred to work in the theater.
His first West End theatre musical roles, which he received with assistance from his friend Ned Sherrin, were I Gotta Shoe (1976) and Bubbling Brown Sugar (1977). Other West End credits include Blues in the Night, Porgy and Bess, The Witches of Eastwick, Guys and Dolls, Chicago, and Chess. Peters starred in the Sean Connery space Western Outland (1981) as the treacherous Sgt. Ballard, and he played an almost wordless role as Anderson, a vicious pimp in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986).
After writing several revues with Sherrin, in 1990 Peters wrote the revue Five Guys Named Moe, which received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical. He followed this up with Unforgettable, a musical about Nat King Cole, which received scathing reviews. He also starred in the 2010 British production of Five Guys Named Moe.
As a stage actor, Peters has appeared on Broadway, where his performance in The Iceman Cometh (1999) won him the Theatre World Award, and he portrayed the shady lawyer Billy Flynn in the revival of Chicago in 2000 and 2003. In regional theatre he has appeared in Driving Miss Daisy, The Wiz, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Carmen Jones, and The Amen Corner. In September 2011, Peters appeared on stage in a Sheffield Crucible Theatre production of Shakespeare's Othello, playing the title role opposite his Wire co-star Dominic West, who played Iago. In the 2014 New York Shakespeare in the Park festival, Peters played Gloucester in King Lear.
Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon in the HBO series The Wire. Peters also starred in the HBO mini-series The Corner, portraying a drug addict named Fat Curt, as well as the FX series Damages, as Dave Pell. Both The Wire and The Corner were created by writer and former The Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon. Peters also stars in Simon's HBO series Treme, in the role of Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux. Peters appeared in two episodes of the American time-travel/detective TV series Life on Mars (2008) as NYPD Captain Fletcher Bellow.
He also appeared in the British show Holby City, as Derek Newman, the father of nurse Donna Jackson. He voiced a part in the Doctor Who animated episode Dreamland, and in the In Plain Sight episode "Duplicate Bridge" as a man in Witness Protection named Norman Baker/Norman Danzer. In 2010, Peters read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for BBC 7."Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", BBC Media Centre. In that year, he also had a guest appearance as Professor Mark Ramsay in the pilot episode of the USA Network TV series Covert Affairs.. Retrieved April 14, 2013. From 2012 to 2013, Peters had a recurring role as Alonzo D. Quinn in the CBS TV series Person of Interest.
Peters' movie credits include Mona Lisa (1986), Notting Hill (1999), K-PAX (2001), Freedomland (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Endgame (2009; in which he played Nelson Mandela), Nativity! (2009), the Spike Lee film Red Hook Summer (2012; in which he played Bishop Enoch), and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
Peters played Easy Rawlins in a 1997 BBC Radio 4 dramatization of Walter Mosley's Black Betty. He also narrated the BBC radio series Black Music in Europe: A Hidden History, as well as the audiobook version of Michael Chabon's novel Telegraph Avenue, released in September 2012 by HarperAudio.
Peters played Art Daniels in the Netflix series The Boroughs (2026).
Personal life Peters was politicized by the Vietnam War. Shortly before he left for Paris, he was arrested for obstructing police lines after an anti-Vietnam War demonstration but was cleared. He later said of this experience: "It made me more angry than anything else, because what I experienced was how impotent you could be as an American citizen." While in Paris, Peters received a letter from the FBI accusing him of draft evasion. He contested the charge, stating: "If the enemy comes to America, I'll be there, but I don't know the Vietnamese. If you put me in the army, I'm not going there."
Peters has had five children from three relationships. He and his first wife, Janine Martyne, had two children, China, an architect, and Peter, an artist. He later had a relationship with Joanna Jacobs, a daughter of the broadcaster David Jacobs, with whom he had two sons: Joe Jacobs, an actor, and Guppy, who died of a kidney tumor in 1992, at the age of four. He has a son, Max, with his second wife, Penny Ephson; Max played the young Michael Jackson in the West End production of the musical Thriller – Live.
As of 2012, Peters split his time between a house in the Charles Village section of Baltimore, which he bought in 2006 while working on The Wire, and one in London.
He is a follower of the Brahma Kumaris.
Filmography Film Year Title Role NotesRef. 1979 The Music Machine Laurie 1980 Silver Dream Racer Cider Jones 1981 Outland Sgt. Ballard 1986 Mona Lisa Anderson 1996 Seasick Radio Reporter Pounds 1999 Notting Hill Helix Lead Actor 2001 K-Pax Homeless Veteran 2003 Head of State Fundraiser Demo-Tape Man 2006 Freedomland Reverend Longway2008 The Poker House Maurice Gigantic Roger Stovall Turnipseed A.B. Turnipseed Marley & Me Editor2009 Endgame Nelson Mandela Brief Interviews with Hideous Men Subject #31 Nativity! Studio Boss 2010 Locked In Frank 2011 Searching for Sonny Narrator 2012 Red Hook Summer Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse2014 John Wick Harry The Best of Me Morgan Dupree2015 The Benefactor Dr. Romano The Bad Education Movie Commander Andrews2017 Division 19 Perelman Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Police Chief Abercrombie 2018 An Acceptable Loss Phillip Lamm 2019 Harriet Ben Ross The Mandela Effect Dr. Fuchs 2020 Come Away Mad Hatter Da 5 Bloods Otis 2022 Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody John Houston 2024 Bonhoeffer Reverend Powell Sr.
Television Year Title Role NotesRef. 1980–1984 Play for Today Yankee Billy / Stevie 2 episodes1983 The Professionals President Ojuka Episode: "The Ojuka Situation" Saigon: Year of the Cat Soldier TV movie 1985 Travelling Man Alan Downing Episode: "A Token Attempt"1989 Red King, White Knight Jones TV movie Frederick Forsyth Presents: A Casualty of War Grover T. Fleming TV movie 1991 El C.I.D. Sultan Episode: "Christmas Spirit" 1992 A Masculine Ending Theo Sykes TV movie1993 Death Train C.W. Whitlock TV movie Between the Lines Mr. Banthorpe Episode: "Jumping the Lights" 1994 Murder Most Horrid American Episode: "Mangez Merveillac" 1995 Chandler & Co Jasper Episode: "The American Dream" 1996 French and Saunders Lt. Johnny Cochrane Episode: "The Quick and the Dead" 1998 Jonathan Creek Hewie Harper 2 episodes2000 The Corner Fat Curt Miniseries; 6 episodes Oz Afsana Episode: "The Bill of Wrongs" 2002 Night and Day Gabriel Huysman 3 episodes 2002–2008 The Wire Det. Lester Freamon Main cast; 55 episodes 2003 Waking the Dead Howard Boorstin 2 episodes: "Multistorey" 2003, 2016 American Masters Narrator 2 episodes: "James Brown: Soul Survivor";"Fats Domino and The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll" 2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury Rex da Silva Episode: "Pattern of Conduct" 2007 Meadowlands Professor / Samantha's Father Episode #1.6 2008 Life on Mars Captain Bellow 2 episodes2009 Damages Dave Pell 8 episodes In Plain Sight Norman Baker / Norman Danzer Episode: "Duplicate Bridge" Great Performances Walter de Courcy Episode: "Chess in Concert" Holby City Derek Newman 5 episodes Doctor Who: Dreamland Night Eagle (voice) 4 episodes 2010 Covert Affairs Dr. Mark Ramsay Episode: "Pilot" 2010–2013 Treme Albert Lambreaux Main cast; 35 episodes2011 Archer Popeye (voice) 2 episodes Memphis Beat Fred Episode: "The Feud" 2012–2013 Person of Interest Alonzo Quinn 11 episodes 2013 Blue Bloods Nathan Anderson Episode: "Quid Pro Quo"2014 True Detective Minister Episode: "The Long Bright Dark" Death in Paradise Marlon Croft Episode: "Political Suicide" The Divide Isaiah Page 8 episodes2015 Forever Jerry Charters Episode: "The Wolves of Deep Brooklyn" Midsomer Murders Frank Wainwright Episode: "The Ballad of Midsomer County" Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime Julius Hersheimmer 3 episodes Show Me a Hero Robert Mayhawk 2 episodes London Spy The American Episode: "Strangers" Jessica Jones Det. Oscar Clemons 4 episodes2016 Jericho Ralph Coates 8 episodes Underground Jay 3 episodes The Tunnel Sonny Persaud 4 episodes People of Earth Ronald Episode: "Lost and Found" 2016–2017 Chance Carl Allan 9 episodes2017 The Blacklist: Redemption Richard Whitehall 2 episodes The Deuce Melvin "Ace" Episode: "My Name Is Ruby"2018 Bulletproof Director-General Ronald Pike Sr 6 episodes Love Is Present-day Yasir 10 episodes2019 His Dark Materials The Master of Jordan College 3 episodes (series 1) Christmas Under the Stars Clem Television film (Hallmark) 2020 Bumps Charles Television pilot2021 The Irregulars The Linen Man 7 episodes Foundation Abbas 6 episodes La Fortuna Jonas Pierce6 episodes 2022 The Man Who Fell to Earth Josiah Falls Main role2024 Truelove Ken Miniseries, 6 episodes Testament: The Story of Moses Voice of God Miniseries, 3 episodes Eric George Miniseries2025 Towards Zero Mr Treves Three-part miniseries Watson Hamish Watson Episode: "Giant Steps"2026 The Boroughs Art Daniels Main cast
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