Peter Weller is the youngest son of a career Army helicopter pilot. He was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin but traveled extensively as his father literally flew around the world. Before he was out of his teens, he had attended high schools in Heidelberg, Germany and San Antonio, Texas, then enrolled at North Texas State University -- attracted by the chance of playing trumpet in one of the college's celebrated jazz bands.

Music is in his family. Three generations on his mother's side were piano players and jazz is still his overriding interest. Ask him who his favorite performer in any art form is and he'll say Miles Davis. It was with a B.A. in Theatre and a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts that he left Texas for New York. Two weeks after graduating, he made his first appearance on Broadway as David in Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production of David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones", a role he repeated on the London stage. While a student of legendary actress and drama coach, Uta Hagen, Weller appeared on and off Broadway in works like William Inge's "Summer Brave", Thomas Babe's "Rebel Women" and "Full Circle", one of the last plays directed by Otto Preminger.

He began garnering critical acclaim with his portrayal of Billie Wilson in "Streamers", directed by Mike Nichols for Joseph Papp at Lincoln Center. He continued that success with his performances as Cliff in "The Woolgatherer" and as Nick in the first American production of David Mamet's "The Woods". During this period, he became a member of the highly respected Actor's Studio, under the aegis of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg.

Weller's film debut was in Richard Lester's Butch and Sundance: The Early Days. He then co-starred with Alan King and Ali MacGraw in Sidney Lumet's Just Tell Me What You Want and, with Albert Finney and Diane Keaton, in Alan Parker's Shoot the Moon. Other film credits include Firstborn with Teri Garr, the HBO made-for-TV Apology, co-starring Lesley Ann Warren, and Of Unknown Origin, the film which won Weller the Best Actor award at the Paris International Film Festival for his performance as an upwardly mobile bachelor with a serious rat problem. That same film also marked his first association with Leviathan director George P. Cosmatos.


Graduated from Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio, Texas, in 1965. Graduated from the University of North Texas in 1969. Due to his work schedule on Naked Lunch (1991), he was unable to reprise the role of RoboCop in RoboCop 3 (1993). Was once engaged to actress Sela Ward. He teaches a literature and fine arts class at Syracuse University. He can be seen on The History Channel's new documentary on Roman engineering. Says that he has never seen RoboCop 3 (1993). Was at one stage attached to appear in AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) in a cameo as John Yutani, the other half of the infamous "Weyland-Yutani" Company from the "Alien" films. Is a serious runner who finished the New York Marathon in 1986 in three hours and forty minutes. Despite his vocal criticisms about the downhill direction the franchise was going in, as well as his physical discomfort wearing the suit, Weller admitted that he was willing to reprise the role of "RoboCop" in RoboCop 3 (1993) for the fans. However, he was already committed to doing Naked Lunch (1991), so he had to pass. He and friend Jeff Goldblum have both appeared in films by Woody Allen (Annie Hall (1977) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995)) and David Cronenberg (The Fly (1986) and Naked Lunch (1991)).