Peter Riegert is an American actor and director with a net worth of $4 million. Peter Riegert is recognized for his work in such movies as “Animal House,” “Local Hero,” “Crossing Delancey,”

What is Peter Riegert’s Net Worth?

and “The Mask” and for his appearances in the TV shows “The Sopranos,” “Damages,” “Dads,” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He also directed the Academy Award-nominated short film “By Courier” and the feature film “King of the Corner.”

Early Life and Education

Peter Riegert was born on April 11, 1947 in the Bronx borough of New York City to piano teacher Lucille and food wholesaler Milton. He was raised in a non-observant Jewish family and grew up in Greenburgh, New York. Riegert graduated from Ardsley High School in 1964. He then attended the University at Buffalo. Prior to entering the acting profession, Riegert waitressed, taught, and performed social work.

Film Career

Riegert made his film debut in 1978 as Donald ‘Boon’ Schoenstein in the National Lampoon fraternity comedy “Animal House.” He was in the comedies “Americathon” and “Chilly Scenes of Winter” the following year. Riegert also appeared in his second National Lampoon film, “Movie Madness,” in 1982. He made his film breakthrough a year later when he appeared as an oil company representative who is sent to a Scottish village to construct an oil refinery in Bill Forsyth’s highly rated British dramedy “Local Hero.”. Riegert also appeared in the co-productions “A Man in Love” and “The Stranger” internationally. In 1988, he co-starred with Amy Irving in Joan Micklin Silver’s romantic comedy “Crossing Delancey,” based on Susan Sandler’s play of the same name. Riegert started the 1990s off with parts in “That’s Adequate” and “A Shock to the System.” He was then in three films in 1991: the comedies “The Object of Beauty” and “Oscar” and the horror movie “The Runestone.” Riegert then appeared in “Utz” and “Passed Away” in 1992. In 1994, he appeared in a standout role as police lieutenant Mitch Kellaway in the Jim Carrey superhero comedy movie “The Mask.” Riegert then appeared in the black comedy thriller “Coldblooded” and the romantic comedy “Pie in the Sky” in 1995.

In 1996, Riegert played the father of Matthew Broderick’s main character, the real-life theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, in the biopic “Infinity.” Two years later, he was in the black comedy crime film “Jerry and Tom” and the Christmas romcom “Hi-Life.” At the dawn of the new millennium, Riegert had roles in “Passion of Mind,” “How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog,” and “Traffic.” He also wrote and directed the short film “By Courier,” which earned him and producer Ericka Frederick an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Riegert then directed his first feature film,

“King of the Corner,” which was released in 2004. He also co-wrote and appeared in the picture. In 2008, Riegert narrated the documentary “The First Basket,” and in 2010 played roles in “The Chosen One” and “White Irish Drinkers.” The next year, he appeared in Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo,” an adaptation of the memoir by Benjamin Mee. Riegert then appeared as college campus radio manager Boneyard Sims in the 2013 romantic comedy “At Middleton.” Several years later, he was cast as the father of Ewan McGregor’s leading character Seymour in “American Pastoral,” an adaptation of the same-named Philip Roth novel.

Television Career

In 1977, Riegert’s television debut came with a two-episode guest spot on “M*A*S*H.” He wouldn’t have another significant TV role until 1984, when he played Richard Nixon in the anthology series “American Playhouse.” That same year, Riegert appeared in the CBS miniseries “Ellis Island,” adapted from the novel by Fred Mustard Stewart. During the next few years, he guest-starred on episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” “American Masters,” and “Trying Times.” Riegert was a star of the short-lived 1992 CBS series “Middle Ages.”

The following year, he had starring roles in two highly praised television movies: HBO’s production of the book “Barbarians at the Gate” and CBS’s production of the stage musical “Gypsy.” For his work on the latter production, Riegert won an Emmy Award nomination as Peter Cohen. Subsequently in the 1990s, he portrayed fictional NBC president in the series finale of “Seinfeld” and starred alongside Stockard Channing in the Showtime TV movie “The Baby Dance,” which was based by Jane Anderson on her play of the same name.

In 2000, Riegert made a guest appearance on “Sports Night.” He then had a major year in 2001, beginning with a stint in the Showtime TV movie “Bojangles.” Subsequently, Riegert had a lead role on the short-lived ABC series “The Beast” and a supporting role in the TV movie adaptation of the play “Bleacher Bums.” Besides, from 2001 to 2002, Riegert portrayed corrupt assemblyman and subsequent state senator Ronald Zellman

during the third and fourth seasons of HBO’s “The Sopranos.” In 2004, he was seen in the TV movie adaptation of Anne Tyler’s novel “Back When We Were Grownups” and started the recurring role of defense attorney Chauncey Zeirko on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Riegert portrayed the latter character until 2007, the same year that he had a recurring role in the first season of the FX series “Damages.” He went on to portray recurring roles on “The Good Wife” from 2009 to 2012 and on “One Tree Hill” from 2010 to 2011.

During 2013-2014, Riegert had a recurring role on the Fox sitcom “Dads” as deadbeat father David Sachs, the father of Seth Green’s title character Eli. In 2015, he appeared in a guest role on “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” and played real-life architect and city planner Oscar Newman in the HBO miniseries “Show Me a Hero,” adapted from the same-titled book by Lisa Belkin. Between 2017 and 2019, Riegert had the recurring role of supermarket chain owner Artie Goodman on the third and fourth seasons of the Netflix sitcom “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” He also had a recurring stint on another Netflix sitcom, “Disjointed,” as one of the love interests of main character Kathy Bates. Riegert’s subsequent important role was as attorney Roger Pugh in season three of the highly acclaimed HBO series “Succession,” which released in 2021. In 2022, he guested on CBS’s “Bull,” and in 2023 appeared in the opening installment of the Apple TV+ anthology miniseries “Extrapolations,” “2037: A Raven Story.”

Stage Career

Riegert’s Broadway acting debut was in the musical “Dance with Me” of the 1970s. Riegert later had an off-Broadway appearance in David Mamet’s play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” In 1987, Riegert appeared in the original Broadway production of Larry Shue’s two-act comedy “The Nerd.” His other theatrical credits have been “The Old Neighborhood,” “An American Daughter,” “Road to Nirvana,” and “The Birthday Party.”

Audiobooks

Riegert narrated the audiobook of Michael Chabon’s 2007 novel “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union,” and was nominated for an Audie Award for his efforts. He also narrated the audiobook of “The Voyage of the Narwhal.”

Real Estate

For decades, Peter had a 68-acre Hyde Park estate in New York, which has a 5,000-square-foot residence that was constructed in 1820. Peter sold this estate in April of 2024 for $1.75 million. Peter purchased an apartment in Manhattan in 1996 for $335,000. He put this apartment on the market for sale in 2019 for $1.99 million.