Actor. Born Peter William Postlethwaite to Mary and William Postlethwaite, a cooper, in Cheshire, England and grew up in Warrington, Lancashire. At age 11, he spent two years in seminary, and later attended St. Mary's University in Twickenham. After graduation, he taught drama until he realized he actually wanted to act. He trained in repertory, including the Bristol Old Vic Drama School, the Liverpool Everyman, Manchester Royal Exchange, and the Royal Shakespeare Company making a reputation as a stage actor. In 1975, he made his television debut in the BBC drama anthology, "Second City Firsts." Refusing any effort to typecast him, he took roles in comedies, dramas, television, and features, including a role in the children's show "Horse in the House," the feature "A Private Function" (1984); the comic series, "Tales of Sherwood Forest," the Hollywood features "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992) and "In the Name of the Father" (1993) for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He delivered performances of note as the despicable Sgt. Hakeswill in the ITV movies "Sharpe's Company" and "Sharpe's Enemy" in 1994, and appeared as Father Laurence in "Romeo + Juliet" (1996). Other films include: "Distant Voices, Still Lives" (1988), "Alien 3" (1992), "The Usual Suspects" (1995), "James and the Giant Peach" (1996), "Dragonheart" (1996), "Brassed Off" (1996), "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997), "Amistad" (1997), "Among Giants" (1998), "The Shipping News" (2001), "The Constant Gardener" (2005), "Æon Flux" (2005), "The Omen" (2006), "Closing the Ring" (2007), "Clash of the Titans" (2010) and "Inception" (2010). He was awarded an OBE in the 2004 New Year's Honors List. Despite a diagnosis of cancer in 2010, he continued to work, appearing in the crime drama "The Town" (2010) and "Killing Bono" (2011), while he completed writing his memoir, "A Spectacle of Dust: The Autobiography," which would be published posthumously following his death at age 64.