Clarke Peters

Overview

Born
April 7, 1952 · New York City, New York, USA
Birth name
Peter Clarke
Height
5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

Biography

Family

Spouses
Children

Trademarks

Deep smooth voice

Trivia

He has lived in London, England since the 1970s.
Clarke Peters worked as a backing vocalist in London during the 1970s. He provided the male vocals for Joan Armatrading's "Love And Affection" ("Oh give me love..."), and Heatwave's "Boogie Nights" ("Got to keep on dancing").
Grew up in Englewood, New Jersey.
He was nominated for a 1999 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for the 1998 season for Best Actor in a Musical for "Chicago!".
Was nominated for Broadway's 1992 Tony Award as Best Book (Musical) for "Five Guy Named Moe."

Quotes

On playing Daryl Van Horne in a touring company of "The Witches of Eastwick": It's a double-edged sword. It's good for the career, but some people said 'The black guy's the Devil!' I was like, 'The black guy's working!'
I'm here [in London] because theatre is a part of your culture. Our points of reference in America aren't steeped in literature, they're steeped in that five minutes between commercials.
Everyone said: 'The Wire (2002)'s hot, you should go to LA.' But when I got out there I just thought, 'This is a bunch of dimwits here. Let me get back to London, man, back to some theatre.' I didn't realise how spoilt I was.
[in 2010] The art, our craft - we have to hold onto these kinds of things. People say, 'I want to be a movie star'; be a movie star, go do that, go be a movie star, but that doesn't mean you're an actor. Go to stage, go onto the stage. If you wanna act, go to the stage. People don't go to theaters, you know? This is a dying craft, because everyone looks at a little tiny screen and they think, 'Well, that's who it is.' No, that's not who it is. That person is an actor, give that person something else to do. Put them on the stage. Get off your ass and go to a theater. Even if it's a local amateur theater, go to the theater. Get away from that fucking screen, and have that communication 'cause that's where the magic is. The magic is not in the music that has been manipulated for you to watch television; the magic is when the person is on stage and that vibration is true and you and the audience are being moved by that. That's an experience people don't have these days. That's a very necessary experience for your spirit, for your soul. You need to have that. You need to hear live music. Listening to the radio, CDs or whatever -- no; listen to the person's breath while they're singing that song or they're playing that guitar. Feel yourself with the person next to you being moved by that. We gotta get out of this little box.
[on how the variety of parts that come his way has expanded as he's grown older] - I think it's because I'm older. Of course, wisdom doesn't always come with age. But it can look like that.