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Peter William Postlethwaite OBE (born February 7, 1945) is an English actor.

Early life
Postlethwaite was born in Warrington, England, the son of Mary Geraldine and William Postlethwaite. He followed a normal educational upbringing, attending West Park Catholic Grammar School, St Helens and did not enroll in acting classes until he was 24. Postlethwaite started his career at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and was a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company and other acting troupes by the time he became known in the United States through his film and television roles. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career
Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In the Name of the Father in 1993. He is also well known for his role as Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill in the period television drama series, Sharpe, alongside Sean Bean. His performance as the mysterious lawyer "Kobayashi" in The Usual Suspects is also well-known, and he later made appearances in several successful films, including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Brassed Off, The Shipping News and The Constant Gardener. In 2003, he was both the physical and vocal actor for the villain Deeth in Zixx: Level One, a Canadian TV series created by IDT Entertainment.

Steven Spielberg called Pete Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world", of which Postlethwaite says: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'"

He was made an OBE in the 2004 New Year's Honours List. One of his most notable roles was as the much-hated Obadiah Hakeswill in ITV's Sharpe series, which starred Sean Bean. Pete has said that this was one of his favourite roles and that he and Sean played so well off each other because of their mutual love and respect for each other. Pete also co-starred with Sean Bean in When Saturday Comes.

He lives in Shropshire with his wife and their two children.

Filmography

 * Treasure Island (1990) (TV)
 * The Grass Arena (1991)
 * Alien³ (1992)
 * Split Second (1992)
 * The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
 * In the Name of the Father (1993)
 * Sharpe's Company (1994) (TV)
 * Suite 16 (1994)
 * Sharpe's Enemy (1994) (TV)
 * Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) (TV)
 * The Usual Suspects (1995)
 * When Saturday Comes (1996)
 * Brassed Off (1996)
 * Dragonheart (1996)
 * James and the Giant Peach (1996)
 * William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)
 * The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
 * Alice in Wonderland  (1999)
 * Wayward Son  (1999)
 * Animal Farm (1999)
 * The Divine Ryans (1999)
 * Rat (2000)
 * The Shipping News (2001)
 * Strange Bedfellows (2004)
 * ''Dark Water (2005)
 * ''Æon Flux (2005)
 * ''The Constant Gardener (2005)
 * ''The Omen (2006)
 * ''The Age of Stupid (2008)