Clarke Peters

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 20022008 and Albert Lambreaux in the television series Treme 20102013 He also 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 Peters was born Peter Clarke the second of four sons in New York City and grew up in Englewood New Jersey 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 In 1971 Peters older brother enabled him to work as a costume designer for a production of the musical Hair in Paris in which Peters later starred In 1973 Peters moved to London and changed his name to Clarke Peters because Equity already had a few namesake members 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 Jordans Mona Lisa 1986 Peters is familiar to television viewers as Detective Lester Freamon in the HBO series The Wire Peters also starred in the HBO miniseries 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 Simons HBO series Treme in the role of Mardi Gras Indian chief Albert Lambreaux Peters appeared in two episodes of the American timetraveldetective 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 BakerNorman Danzer In 2010 Peters read Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for BBC 7 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 From 2012 to 2013 Peters had a recurring role as Alonzo D Quinn in the CBS TV series Person of Interest