Peter Dinklage's Real Name: Peter Dinklage

Quick answer: Peter Dinklage performs under his own name. He was born on June 11, 1969, in Morristown, New Jersey. He is best known as Tyrion Lannister on HBO's Game of Thrones (2011–19), a role that won him Emmy Awards in 2011, 2015, 2018, and 2019. His breakthrough film was The Station Agent (2003) (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Dinklage, Peter." It cites "Peter Dinklage; born June 11, 1969 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA." Britannica gives the same date and birthplace. Neither source records a middle name or any other birth name, so Peter Dinklage is the name documented here.

Britannica says Dinklage was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. He began acting at an early age and attended Bennington College in Vermont. After graduating in 1991, he and a classmate moved to Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood and started a theater group modeled on Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company. When it failed to take off, he acted in Off-Broadway productions while working day jobs.

Career highlights

Britannica notes that Dinklage refused parts that typecast him because of his height. In his first big-screen role, in the independent film Living in Oblivion (1995), he delivers a scathing indictment of Hollywood's treatment of dwarfs. His breakthrough came with The Station Agent (2003). Writer-director Tom McCarthy created the role of Finbar McBride, an introverted man who inherits an abandoned train station, specifically for him. The part earned him a Screen Actors Guild nomination. The same year he had a memorable scene as children's author Miles Finch in Elf.

He starred in the TV series Threshold (2005–06), had a recurring role on Nip/Tuck, and appeared in Underdog (2007) and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008). His profile soared with Game of Thrones, adapted from George R.R. Martin's novels. Britannica credits him with bringing wry humor to the series as the shrewd Tyrion. He won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama four times, as well as a 2012 Golden Globe.

Later roles include the villain Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Pixels (2015), the voice of the Mighty Eagle in The Angry Birds Movie (2016), and a supporting part in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). In 2019 he played the title role in an Off-Broadway musical Cyrano.

Name notes for searchers

Peter Dinklage is his birth name as recorded in the library and encyclopedia sources used here. A middle name circulates in online databases but is not documented in those sources. Dinklage is his family surname, and Peter is his given first name.