Age, Biography, and Wiki
Peter Dinklage was born on June 11, 1969, in Morristown, New Jersey. As of 2025, he is 55 years old. He is well-known for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister in "Game of Thrones," which catapulted him to international fame. Dinklage has also appeared in various films, including "Elf," "Cyrano," and "Avengers: Infinity War." He is affected by achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism.
| Occupation | Film Producer |
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| Date of Birth | 11 June 1969 |
| Age | 56 Years |
| Birth Place | Jersey Shore, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Country | Jersey |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Peter Dinklage stands at 4 feet 5 inches (134 cm) tall, a result of his achondroplasia condition. Specific details about his weight and measurements are not widely available.
Dinklage's face was injured in the early 1990s when he was in a "punk-funk-rap" band called Whizzy. He was playing at the nightclub CBGB in New York City, when he was accidentally kneed in the face and started bleeding on the stage. It gave him a scar that runs from his neck to his eyebrow.
| Height | 4 ft |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Peter Dinklage has been married to theater director Erica Schmidt since 2005. The couple has two children together and keeps their personal life relatively private.
He grew up in the historic Brookside section of Mendham Township, with his parents and older brother Jonathan. He is the only member of his family with achondroplasia. He was raised Catholic.
Dinklage played Trumpkin in the 2008 film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The film was considered a box office disappointment compared to the first installment, with global revenues of $419.7 million, and film critic Bill Gibron described Dinklage's role as a "cutesy stereotype he has tried to avoid." Later that year, he played the title role in Uncle Vanya (directed by his wife, Erica Schmidt) in Bard College's annual Bard SummerScape, the Upstate New York summer stage on the Annandale-on-Hudson campus. In 2010, he appeared in the Australian movie I Love You Too alongside Brendan Cowell and Peter Helliar.
In August and September 2018, he starred in the title role of Cyrano, a stage musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac written by his wife Erica Schmidt, with songs by the band The National. He reprised the role in a 2021 film adaptation of the musical, for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
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| Husband | Erica Schmidt (m. 2005) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Peter Dinklage's net worth is estimated to be around $25 million. His salary for the final two seasons of "Game of Thrones" was $1.1 million per episode, totaling $14.3 million for those seasons. In seasons 5 and 6, he earned $500,000 per episode, adding up to $10 million. His total earnings from "Game of Thrones" are estimated to exceed $30 million.
He attended Bennington College, where he studied for a drama degree and appeared in numerous productions before graduating in 1991. He moved to New York City with his friend Ian Bell to build a theater company; failing to pay the rent, they had to move out of their apartment. He subsequently lived in New York for 20 years in Williamsburg and the West Village, then worked six years for a data-processing company before again pursuing a full-time acting career.
Career, Business, and Investments
Dinklage's career spans both television and film. In addition to "Game of Thrones," he has appeared in movies like "Elf," "Cyrano," "Pixels," and "Avengers: Infinity War." His film career has contributed significantly to his net worth. He is also set to appear in "Dexter: Resurrection". Dinklage is a dedicated vegetarian and supports PETA, actively promoting veganism and animal rights.
Dinklage has also performed in theater, with roles including the title character in Richard III (2003) at the Public Theatre, Rakitin in A Month in the Country (2015) at Classic Stage Company, and Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano at the Daryl Roth Theatre in 2019.
Dinklage had his first theatrical success in a fifth-grade production of The Velveteen Rabbit. Playing the lead, he was delighted by the audience's response to the show. He attended Delbarton School, a Catholic preparatory school for boys, where he developed his acting skills. In 1984, he was inspired to pursue an acting career by a production of Sam Shepard's play True West.
In 2016, Dinklage and his longtime manager David Ginsburg founded their joint-venture production company, Estuary Films. I Think We're Alone Now is the first film under Estuary.
Social Network
Peter Dinklage maintains a private personal life and is not very active on social media platforms. However, his career achievements and philanthropic efforts are widely recognized and discussed online.
Dinklage initially struggled to find acting work, partially because he refused to take the roles typically offered to actors with his condition, such as "elves or leprechauns". He had a credited film debut in the low-budget independent comedy-drama Living in Oblivion (1995), where he starred alongside Steve Buscemi. It tells the story of a director, crew, and cast filming a low-budget independent film in New York City. Dinklage's role was that of a frustrated actor with dwarfism who complains about his clichéd roles. The next year, he appeared as a building manager in the crime drama Bullet starring rapper Tupac Shakur. Even after his well-received performance in Living in Oblivion, Dinklage could not find someone willing to be his agent. After a recommendation from Buscemi to director Alexandre Rockwell, Dinklage was cast in the comedy 13 Moons (2002). When later interviewed for a theater website, he was asked what his ideal role was, and he replied "to play the romantic lead and get the girl."
Dinklage found his breakthrough playing Finbar McBride, who is a quiet, withdrawn, unmarried man in the 2003 Tom McCarthy-directed film The Station Agent. According to co-star Bobby Cannavale, the film took three years to make and was not at first written with Dinklage in mind. Cannavale said McCarthy "set out to tell a story about a guy who was a train enthusiast who had chosen to isolate himself from the world," but when McCarthy actually started "putting pen to paper" for the screenplay, he decided to write the role for him. Speaking about the role, Dinklage noted that usually "roles written for someone my size are a little flat"—often either comical or "sort of Lord of the Rings" type characters filled with wisdom; further: "They're not sexual, they're not romantic" and "they're not flawed." What attracted him to the character McCarthy had written was that it was not one of the stereotypical roles people with dwarfism play; rather, McBride has "romantic feelings" as well as "anger and ... flaws." The role earned him the Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor nominations. In the New York Observer, reviewer Andrew Sarris wrote, "Dinklage projects both size and intelligence in the fascinating reticence of his face." Besides being Dinklage's highest-rated film on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Station Agent was modestly successful at the box office, earning over $8 million against its small budget.
Dinklage later appeared in the direct-to-DVD film Tiptoes (2003) with Gary Oldman and Matthew McConaughey. The film met with negative reviews, particularly Oldman's role as a person with dwarfism. According to Dinklage, the original cut of the film was "gorgeous," but the director was fired shortly after turning it in, and the film was re-cut into a "rom-com with dwarfs." Speaking on the Oldman controversy, Dinklage said, "There was some flak: 'Why would you put Gary Oldman on his knees? That's almost like blackface.' And I have my own opinions about political correctness, but I was just like, It's Gary Oldman. He can do whatever he wants, and I'm so happy to be here."
In 2006, Dinklage co-starred with Vin Diesel in Find Me Guilty, a courtroom drama directed by Sidney Lumet. The film tells the true story of the longest Mafia trial in American history; Dinklage played Ben Klandis, the lead defense attorney. Critical reaction to the film was mostly positive, though it was a commercial failure. Writing for Chicago Sun-Times, film critic Roger Ebert praised Dinklage's performance, saying that the character he plays stands apart as "concise, articulate and professional." The same year, he portrayed the character Marlowe Sawyer in episodes of Nip/Tuck. He played a fictionalized version of himself in an episode of the HBO series Entourage and appeared in NBC's 30 Rock as Stewart. The same year, Dinklage appeared in the British romantic comedy Penelope playing Lemon, a tabloid reporter. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
His next release, the independent film Rememory (2017), failed to impress reviewers, but his role of Sam Bloom was praised. Freelance film critic Yasmin Kleinbart stated that "Dinklage deserves better than this film" and John DeFore in The Hollywood Reporter said that he "delivers a soulful lead performance that will attract fans' attention." Also in 2017, Dinklage had a supporting role in the drama-dark comedy film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, from director Martin McDonagh, and the drama Three Christs, both of which played at the Toronto International Film Festival, with the former receiving widespread critical success. In 2018, Dinklage produced and starred in I Think We're Alone Now, a post-apocalyptic drama based on the companionship between Del, played by Dinklage, and Grace, played by Elle Fanning. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was later released to theaters on September 14, 2018.
In 2019, Dinklage was announced he would co-star in the comedy film Brothers, alongside Josh Brolin. The film, directed by Max Barbakow with a screenplay by Macon Blair from a story by Etan Cohen, was released in October 2024.
Dinklage became a vegetarian at the age of 16. In a 2024 episode of the podcast Flagrant he stated he started eating fish and chicken again, while filming Game of Thrones in Croatia as he became fatigued on set, although he does not eat red meat. He supports Farm Sanctuary and has been the group's spokesperson for its Walk for Farm Animals. He appeared in a PETA campaign, asking Game of Thrones fans to adopt pets from shelters rather than buying huskies that might look like direwolves.
At the 2012 Golden Globe ceremony, when Dinklage won the award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film, he told the audience that he had been thinking about "a gentleman, his name is Martin Henderson", and suggested that they Google his name. Henderson was a man with dwarfism from Somerset, England, who was badly injured after being tossed by a rugby fan in a bar. Dinklage's words brought media and public attention to the act of dwarf-tossing, with Henderson's name being trended worldwide on social media. Henderson eventually died of his injuries in 2016, five years after the incident. Dinklage turned down offers from talk shows to discuss the topic. He later explained that 20 years earlier he might have accepted the offers, but that he was "a little bit more at peace with things now", and "I said what I wanted to say… I have a friend who says the world doesn't need another angry dwarf."
Education
Details about Peter Dinklage's educational background are not extensively documented in public sources. His success in the entertainment industry is largely attributed to his talent and perseverance.
In conclusion, Peter Dinklage's net worth and career reflect his significant impact on both television and film. His iconic role in "Game of Thrones" remains a highlight of his career, while his film appearances and philanthropic activities continue to contribute to his reputation and financial success.
Dinklage studied acting at Bennington College, performing in a number of amateur stage productions. He made his film debut in the black comedy film Living in Oblivion (1995), and had his breakthrough with a starring role in the 2003 comedy-drama The Station Agent. His other films include Elf (2003), Lassie and The Baxter (both in 2005), Find Me Guilty (2006), Penelope (2006), Death at a Funeral (2007), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), Death at a Funeral (2010), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), and Wicked (2024). In 2018, he appeared as Eitri in the Marvel film Avengers: Infinity War, and as Hervé Villechaize in the biopic film My Dinner with Hervé. He also provided voice-acting for the video game Destiny, and in 2023, he voiced Scourge in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
As a child, Dinklage and his brother performed puppet musicals for people in their neighborhood. He has described his brother Jonathan as "the real performer of the family", saying that his brother's passion for the violin was the only thing that kept him from pursuing acting. Jonathan graduated from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and served as violinist and concertmaster for the musical Hamilton.
