Peter Sarsgaard was born on March 7, 1971 in Belleville, Illinois, USA, into a military family. After graduating from a Jesuit school in Connecticut, Peter Sarsgaard studied at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming an actor, which is why he graduated from the acting school "The Actors Studio", which allowed him to get his first roles on television and in New York theaters. At the same time, Peter Sarsgaard also played small roles in the series "Law & Order" and "New York Undercover".

Peter Sarsgaard's film debut took place in 1995 in Tim Robbins' famous film "Dead Man Walking". Peter turned out to be a rather lucky novice actor – already in 1998 he participated in the filming of five films, among which was director Randall Wallace's film "The Man in the Iron Mask", which featured a remarkable cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, John Malkovich, and Gérard Depardieu. In the same year, Peter Sarsgaard worked with Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck in Morgan J. Freeman's comedy "Desert Blue". After some time, he joined the cast of director Larry Clark's crime drama "Another Day in Paradise". This time, Peter's star colleagues were James Woods and Melanie Griffith.

An excellent start opened the way for Peter Sarsgaard to other very worthy film projects, and in 1999 the young actor got a role in another Oscar-winning project – Kimberly Peirce's drama "Boys Don't Cry". Despite the fact that his famous partner – actress Hilary Swank received all kinds of awards in the film world, and Peter Sarsgaard did not receive a single one, the actor's performance was recognized as psychologically authentic and earned excellent reviews from critics.

Peter Sarsgaard had many romantic relationships with women, but not a single romance led the actor to marriage. Only in 2009 did actress Maggie Gyllenhaal become his wife. The married couple had two daughters - Ramona and Gloria.