Peter Greene ( Green; May 10, 1959 – December 12, 2025) was an American actor. A character actor, he was generally known for portraying villains, corrupt police officers, and criminals. He began his acting career in 1990, landing small roles in television and film with his film debut being Laws of Gravity. He had major roles in Pulp Fiction, The Mask, and The Usual Suspects in 1994 and 1995.

Greene's other credits included Judgment Night (1993), Clean, Shaven (1994), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). He later appeared in Kiss & Tell (1997), Blue Streak (1999), Training Day (2001), The Black Donnellys (2007), Life on Mars (2009), New York New York (2016), and The Continental (2023). He had over a hundred film and television credits throughout his career.

He had issues with drug addiction throughout his life. He died unexpectedly at age 66 from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Early life Peter Paul Green III was born on May 10, 1959, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Peter Paul Green Jr. and Patricia Ann Fitzgerald. He has a younger brother, John and a younger sister, Marianne. In his youth, he was a choirboy at his local Catholic church. He was a student at Montclair High School. However, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and was homeless for a few years. He had dropped out of high school and lived in New York working various odd jobs including as a busboy. It was during this time that he was introduced to both using and selling hard drugs.

He did not pursue a career in acting until his mid-20s. It was then that he studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York City and studied method acting.

Career When registering for the Screen Actors Guild, he decided to change the spelling of his name to "Peter Greene". He initially landed several small roles in cinema and television in the early 1990s. His television debut was on the NBC crime drama Hardball in 1990. Greene later made his film debut in Laws of Gravity (1992). During the production of the film Judgement Night, he was found with a crack pipe. He played the schizophrenic Peter Winter in Clean, Shaven (1993). In Pulp Fiction, Greene appeared as a security guard named Zed. The character of Zed is meant to pay homage to the 1972 film Deliverance. The Mask was a film starring Jim Carrey, where Greene played the villainous Dorian Tyrell. Greene played the character for the majority of the film, however towards the end Tyrell himself puts on the magical mask that grants him magical abilities, where the character is then played alternatively by actor Garret T. Sato and stuntman Jeep Swenson.

The Usual Suspects saw him play the character of Redfoot. Greene often played villains, such as in Judgment Night (1993), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995), The Rich Man's Wife (1996), Training Day (2001) (as a corrupt narcotics officer), and The Bounty Hunter (2010).

Greene worked with director Jordan Alan twice: once on the film Kiss & Tell (1997), a dark comic turn and then again four years later in The Gentleman Bandit (aka Gentleman B). After Greene's arrests in 1998 for drug related crimes, Alan had to put the actor through rehab to get him through the second film and eventually, after coming upon Greene doing heroin with Mike Starr, he was forced to replace Greene's voice because of the vocal problems caused by drugs. Despite these problems, Alan vouched for Greene to producer Tobe Jaffe for the movie Blue Streak, in which Greene played Martin Lawrence's nemesis.

Greene continued to work mostly as a character actor. He appeared in the short-lived television dramas The Black Donnellys and Life on Mars (2009). He also appeared as a policeman in Prodigy and Mobb Deep's video for "A, B, C's", as well as the focal character in House of Pain's video for "Fed Up". Greene appeared in the opening scene of the premiere of the FX series Justified where he was characterized as a "thuggish Peter Weller lookalike" by reviewer Scott Tobias, writing for The A.V. Club. His later roles included the film New York New York (2016) and the miniseries The Continental (2023). He appeared in two films by director Eric Brian Hughes: Turnabout (2016) and Exit 0 (2019). Greene appears in the digital series The Jersey Connection by filmmaker Tim Firtion. Greene was featured in the 2020 TV series For Life in a small role as an Aryan Brother named "Wild Bill" Miller.

By the time of his death, he had been given a role in an upcoming Mickey Rourke movie called Mascots, and was involved in at least two other projects. He was also working on and planned to narrate a documentary on USAID titled From the American People: The Withdrawal of USAID which had been funded via GoFundMe.

Personal life and death Greene had one son. He struggled with heroin and cocaine addiction in the 1990s and additionally he was arrested for possessing crack cocaine in 2007. He also attempted to take his own life in March 1996 which he revealed in an interview with Premier magazine. After the attempt, he successfully sought addiction treatment.

Greene died at his Lower East Side apartment in Manhattan, New York City, on December 12, 2025, at the age of 66. Police were called to perform a wellness check after music had been playing for a full day in the apartment. The neighbor who discovered Greene's body revealed to the New York Daily News that Greene was found "lying on the floor, face down, facial injury and blood". The very day he was found by police he was to undergo a medical procedure to remove a benign tumor from his body. A note was also confirmed to be found where Greene claimed "I'm still a Westie." In February 2026, the cause of death was declared an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the left axilla causing injury of the brachial artery.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1992 Laws of Gravity Jimmy 1993 Clean, Shaven Peter Winter Judgment Night Sykes 1994 Pulp Fiction Zed The Mask Dorian Tyrell 1995 The Usual Suspects Redfoot The Fence Uncredited Bang Adam Under Siege 2: Dark Territory Mercenary #1 1996 Lowball John Coyote Run Clifton Santier The Rich Man's Wife Cole Wilson Snakeland Johnny Short film 1997 Trading Favors Teddy Double Tap Nash Kiss & Tell Detective John Finnigan 1998 Permanent Midnight Gus 1999 Out in Fifty Tony Grayson Blue Streak Deacon 2000 Shadow Hours Detective Steve Andrianson 2001 Nobody's Baby Vern Ticker Detective Artie Pluchinsky Training Day Jeff Uncredited Scenes of the Crime Rick Dead Dogs Lie Marcus Devlin 2002 The Gentleman Bandit Manny Breen Under the Influence Stephen Tally 2004 Black Cloud Norm Olsen 2005 Confession Detective William Fletcher Brothers in Arms Bert 2006 End Game Jack Baldwin Direct-to-video Love Hollywood Style Theodor Caruso 2007 Final Engagement Priest Direct-to-video I'm Calling Frank Bobby 2008 Clown ClownShort film 2009 Blue Knight Sergeant Donato Forget Me Not Boyfriend Fist of the Warrior John Lowe Direct-to-video 2010 Caller ID Dean of Admissions The Bounty Hunter Earl Mahler Earthling Swinnert Once Fallen Sonny Once More JackShort film 2011 Keep Your Enemies Closer Alex Decker A Pornstar Is Born Ron Goldman Direct-to-video The Grasslands Baby John Shanghai Hotel Mr. Capuzzi 2012 The Shoemaker Dutchie Short film Brutal Carlo Morello The Kill Hole Peter Krebbs The Child Martin Engler 2013 Checkmate, Keep Your Enemies Closer Alex Decker Short film 2015 Sweet Lorraine Marcus 2016 Turnabout Leo New York New York Downey 2018 City of Lies Commander Fasulo 2019 Exit 0 The Writer Samir Valentine 2020 Tesla Nichols Let's Get Lost RayShort film Priceless The Devil 2021 Body Brokers Dr. Riner Return to Danger Gilbert 2022 The Crusaders Hughie Short film Out of Exile Whitman Rader The Mick and the Trick Patrick Shannon 2023 Little Dixie Karl Roach Pet Shop Days The Dealer 2025 Beggarman Vinny 2026 Clika Lieutenant Jones Posthumous release

Television Year Title Role Notes 1990 Hardball Unknown Role Episode: "Prescription for Murder" 1992 As the World Turns Hitman Episode: "Episode #1.9169" & "#1.9170" 1998 Black Cat Run D.J. Wheeler Television film 2001 Law & Order Francis "Taz" Partell Episode: "Bronx Cheer" 2005 H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds Matt HerbertTelevision film 2006 Dead and Deader Dr. Scott 2007 The Black Donnellys Derek Timothy "Dokey" Farrell Main cast 2009 Life on Mars Jimmy McManus Recurring cast 2010 Justified Thomas Francis "Tommy Bucks" Buckley Episode: "Fire in the Hole" 2012 Hawaii Five-0 Rick Peterson Episode: "Mai Ka Wa Kahiko (Out of the Past)" 2016 Chicago P.D. Rory Jensen Recurring cast: season 3 2017 Still the King Hank "The Shank" Recurring cast: season 2 2020 For Life Bill "Wild Bill" Miller Recurring cast: season 1 2021 The Jersey Connection Jordan Blaine Episode: "Prologue: Time Destroys Everything" 2023 The Continental: From the World of John Wick Uncle Charlie Episode: "Brothers in Arms"

Music videos Year Artist Song Role 1996 House of Pain "Fed Up" Mechanic 2008 Prodigy "ABC" Detective 2017 Necro "Dead Body Disposal" Killer 2019 Jadakiss "Me" Bank Robber 2022 R.A. the Rugged Man "Dragon Fire" Big Boss

References

External links