Peter Facinelli ( fa-chə-NELI; born November 26, 1973) is an American-Italian actor. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox series Fastlane from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novel series, and is also known for his role as Mike Dexter in the 1998 film Can't Hardly Wait. Facinelli was a regular on the Showtime comedy-drama series Nurse Jackie, portraying the role of Dr. Fitch "Coop" Cooper. He portrayed Maxwell Lord on the first season of the TV series Supergirl.
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Early life
Facinelli grew up in Ozone Park, Queens. He is the son of Italian immigrants Bruna (née Reich) and Pierino Facinelli. Bruna Facinelli is a homemaker, and Pierino Facinelli worked as a waiter. His parents come from the Val di Non valley in Trentino, northern Italy. His father is from Revò, while his mother is from Spormaggiore. His father worked multiple jobs to make ends meet and was often absent from the home. He was "around a lot of feminine energy" living with his mother, grandmother, and three sisters. He was raised Catholic and attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Fresh Meadows, New York.
Facinelli studied acting at New York University, as well as at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School in New York City.
Career
Facinelli made his feature film debut in Rebecca Miller's Angela in 1995 and came to the attention of critics in the TV-movie The Price of Love later that year. In 1996, Facinelli played opposite Jennie Garth, whom he later married, in An Unfinished Affair. Other TV roles followed, including a part in After Jimmy (1996) and a college dropout in Calm at Sunset. Facinelli co-starred with Amanda Peet and Michael Vartan in the 1997 AIDS-themed drama Touch Me (1997) and co-starred as a high school student in two 1998 features with Ethan Embry and Breckin Meyer, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, and Can't Hardly Wait, which also starred Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Facinelli appeared in the sci-fi film Supernova starring James Spader in 2000. He made appearances in Riding in Cars with Boys in 2001 and The Scorpion King in 2002, followed by a leading role in the Fox drama Fastlane. Facinelli had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under in 2004 and a role in the FX original series Damages beginning in 2007. Facinelli starred in Hollow Man 2 with Christian Slater. It was released direct-to-video in May 2006.
In 2006, he was cast in Touch the Top of the World, a true story of Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to climb Mount Everest. The film is based on his best selling autobiography.
After wrapping up Finding Amanda with Matthew Broderick, Facinelli played Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptation of Twilight, based on the book by Stephenie Meyer. According to an interview, "I almost didn't read for Twilight. My agent said, 'Do you want to do a vampire movie?' And I was like, 'No.' I was totally thinking blood and guts and bats in caves, like some kind of horror movie. They literally talked me into reading the book and I actually enjoyed the book a lot." Facinelli continued his portrayal in the sequels of the film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
He played Dr. Fitch Cooper for seven seasons on the Showtime dark comedy series Nurse Jackie.
He is the founder of the production company Facinelli Films. Their first feature film, Loosies, which was written entirely by Facinelli, was filmed in 2011. He starred in the film, which is a story of a New York pickpocket, directed by Michael Corrente. In 2011 he also wrote and produced the Hallmark Channel telefilm Accidentally in Love which starred his then-wife Jennie Garth.
In 2015, he played Maxwell Lord in Supergirl. The same year, he co-wrote the novel After the Red Rain with Barry Lyga and Robert DeFranco. It is set on a future Earth whose population is grappling with dwindling resources.
Personal life
Facinelli met actress Jennie Garth on the set of An Unfinished Affair in 1995. Their first child, a daughter named Luca, was born in 1997. Facinelli and Garth married on January 20, 2001, in Montecito, California in a Catholic wedding where their 3-year-old daughter served as flower girl. They had two more daughters, born 2002 and 2006. In March 2012, Facinelli filed for divorce from Garth, which was finalized in June 2013. He later said he felt they had "an arranged marriage" and admitted, "I think if we didn't have children, I wouldn't have stayed."
Facinelli began dating actress Jaimie Alexander in 2012 after meeting on the set of Loosies. They became engaged in March 2015, and announced they had ended their engagement in February 2016.
On January 1, 2020, Facinelli became engaged to Lily Anne Harrison, whom he met on the Raya dating app. They have one child.
Facinelli is Catholic and is a supporter of LGBT rights. In 2009, Facinelli acquired Italian citizenship through jus sanguinis to shoot a film in Europe that required that all actors be European citizens. Cyclist Letizia Paternoster is Facinelli's niece.