Peter Facinelli

Peter Facinelli (pronounced fah-CHIN-elly) is an American actor. He became known as the star of Fox's 2002 television series Fastlane. He plays Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight series. He is also well known for his role as Mike Dexter in the film Can't Hardly Wait. He is currently a regular on the television series Nurse Jackie portraying the role of Dr. Fitch "Coop" Cooper.

Early Life
Facinelli grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, the son of Italian immigrants, Bruna, a homemaker, and Pierino Facinelli, a waiter. His parents are from Val di Non which is located in Trentino, Northern Italy. He studied acting at New York University, as well as at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School in New York City; his teachers there included William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Giancarlo Esposito, and Camryn Manheim.

Career
Facinelli made his feature film debut in Rebecca Miller's Angela in 1995 and came to the attention of critics in the TV-movie The Price of Love later that year. In 1996, Facinelli played opposite future wife Jennie Garth in An Unfinished Affair. Other TV roles followed, including a part in After Jimmy (1996) and a college dropout in Calm at Sunset. Facinelli co-starred with Amanda Peet and Michael Vartan in the 1997 AIDS-themed drama Touch Me (1997) and co-starred as a high school student in two 1998 features with Ethan Embry and Breckin Meyer, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, and Can't Hardly Wait, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Facinelli appeared in the sci-fi film Supernova starring James Spader in 2000. He made appearances in Riding in Cars with Boys in 2001 and The Scorpion King in 2002, followed by a leading role in the Fox drama Fastlane. Facinelli had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under in 2004 and a role in the FX original series Damages beginning in 2007. Facinelli starred in Hollow Man 2 with Christian Slater. It was released direct-to-video in May 2006. After wrapping up Finding Amanda with Matthew Broderick, Facinelli played Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer. According to an interview, "I almost didn’t read for Twilight. My agent said, “Do you want to do a vampire movie?” And I was like, “No.” I was totally thinking blood and guts and bats in caves, like some kind of horror movie. They literally talked me into reading the book and I actually enjoyed the book a lot." Facinelli reprised his role in the sequels of the film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. He will also continue to portray the role in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 which released on November 18, 2011.

He stars as Dr. Fitch Cooper in the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie. He is the founder of the production company Facinelli Films. Their first feature film Loosies, which was written entirely by Facinelli, was filmed in 2011. He starred in the film, which is a story of a New York pickpocket that being produced by Verdi Corrente Productions.

Related Links
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