John Peter Sarsgaard (born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. His first feature role was in Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), playing Raoul, the ill-fated son of Athos. Sarsgaard later achieved critical recognition when he was cast in Boys Don't Cry (1999) as John Lotter. He landed his first leading role in the 2001 film The Center of the World. The following year, he played supporting roles in Empire, The Salton Sea, and K-19: The Widowmaker. For his portrayal of Charles Lane in Shattered Glass, Sarsgaard won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sarsgaard has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the 2004 comedy-drama Garden State, the biographical film Kinsey (2004), the drama The Dying Gaul (2005), and big-budget films such as Flightplan (2005), Jarhead (2005), The Skeleton Key (2005), Orphan (2009), An Education (2009), Knight and Day (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Lovelace (2013), Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves (2013), Blue Jasmine (2013), Black Mass (2015), and The Magnificent Seven (2016). Sarsgaard also appeared in the American TV series The Killing (2013) as a man on death row perhaps wrongfully convicted for the brutal murder of his wife—a performance which he says included "some of the best acting I have ever done in my life." In 2021, he had a recurring role on the Hulu miniseries Dopesick. Sarsgaard has appeared in Off-Broadway productions including Kingdom of Earth, Laura Dennis, Burn This, and Uncle Vanya. In September 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in The Seagull. He is married to actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Filmography

• Neuromancer — John Ashpool
• DTF St. Louis — 'Modern Love' / Christopher Spurce
• 2026Flesh Impact — Director
• 2026The Bride! — Jake Wiles
• 2025Pet Shop Days
• 2024Coup! — Floyd Monk, Executive Producer
• Presumed Innocent — Tommasino 'Tommy' Molto
• 2024September 5 — Roone Arledge
• 2023Memory — Saul
• 2022The Batman — District Attorney Gil Colson
• 2022The Survivor — Emory Anderson
• Dopesick — Rick Mountcastle
• 2021The Guilty — Henry Fisher (voice)
• 2021The Lost Daughter — Professor Hardy
• 2020Best Summer Ever — Camera Man, Executive Producer
• Homemade — Frank
• 2020Human Capital — Quint Manning
• Interrogation — David Russell
• 2019Mr. Jones — Walter Duranty
• 2019The Sound of Silence — Peter Lucian
• 2018The Lie — Jay Logan
• The Looming Tower — Martin Schmidt
• 2017Loving Pablo — Shepard
• 2017Wormwood — Frank Olson
• Wormwood — Frank Olson
• 2016Jackie — Robert Kennedy
• 2016The Magnificent Seven — Bartholomew Bogue
• 2015Black Mass — Brian Halloran
• 2015Experimenter — Stanley Milgram
• 2015Ladygrey — Samuel
• 2015Pawn Sacrifice — Father Bill Lombardy
• The Slap — Hector
• 2014Night Moves — Harmon
• 2013Blue Jasmine — Dwight
• 2013Lovelace — Chuck Traynor, Executive Producer
• 2013Very Good Girls — Fitzsimmons
• 2012Robot & Frank — Robot (voice)
• 2011Green Lantern — Hector Hammond
• The Killing — Ray Seward
• 2010Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — Alan Troy (archive footage)
• 2010Knight and Day — Fitzgerald
• 2009An Education — David Goldman
• 2009In the Electric Mist — Elrod Sykes
• 2009Orphan — John
• 2008Elegy — Kenneth Kepesh
• 2008Indie Sex: Teens
• 2008The Mysteries of Pittsburgh — Cleveland Arning
• 2007High Falls — Pedro
• 2007Rendition — Alan Smith
• 2007Year of the Dog — Newt
• 2005Flightplan — Carson
• 2005Jarhead — Alan Troy
• 2005The Dying Gaul — Robert Sandrich
• 2005The Skeleton Key — Luke Marshall
• 2004Garden State — Mark
• 2004Kinsey — Clyde Martin
• 2003Death of a Dynasty — Brendon III
• 2003Shattered Glass — Charles 'Chuck' Lane
• 2002Empire — Jack
• 2002K-19: The Widowmaker — Vadim Radtchinko
• 2002The Salton Sea — Jimmy the Finn
• 2002Unconditional Love — Window Washer
• 2001The Center of the World — Richard Longman
• 2000Housebound — Mignon
• 2000The Cell — Julia Hickson's Fiancee (uncredited)
• 1999Boys Don't Cry — John Lotter
• 1999Desert Blue — Billy Baxter
• 1999Freak City — Cal Jackson
• 1998Another Day in Paradise — Ty
• 1998The Man in the Iron Mask — Raoul
• Cracker
• 1997Subway Stories — Boy No. 1 (segment "Underground")
• 1995Dead Man Walking — Walter Delacroix
• Law & Order — Josh Strand
• This Week
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host, Boogerman (uncredited)
• Erosion — Christian Andersen
• Road House 2
• The Damning of a Country Merchant
• Zero K

Appearances as themselves (14)

• America Divided — Self
• 2016Starring Austin Pendleton — Self
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — Self
• Late Night with Seth Meyers — Self - Guest
• The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — Self
• 2014Valley Uprising — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Conan — Self
• 2009Mama's Little Devils: Bad Seeds and Evil Children — Self
• The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien — Self
• Indie Sex — Self
• 2006"Jarhead" Diaries — Self
• 2006Jarhead: Background — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest