Peter Greene

Peter Greene rapidly established himself as the screen villain of the 1990s with a host of characterizations in both dark melodramas and spry comedies. His pale-faced image was forever emblazoned in the consciousness of moviegoers who saw him as Zed, the security guard playing "eenie, meenie, moe" while sodomizing Ving Rhames in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Greene had made his first feature film in a starring role for neophyte writer-director Nick Gomez in "Laws of Gravity" (1992), in which he was a petty criminal trying to sell some handguns and torn by loyalties. In 1993, he gave a haunting performance as a schizophrenic trying to meet his daughter in "Clean, Shaven." Greene was a gang member in "Judgment Night" (also 1993) and Dorian Tyrel, the creepy night club owner whom Jim Carrey flushes down the toilet in "The Mask" (1994). Since the release of "Pulp Fiction" gave him high notice, Greene has played the fence in "The Usual Suspects" and a terrorist in "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory" (both 1995) and Halle Berry's blackmailer in the thriller "The Rich Man's Wife" (1996).

Behind the scenes, however, Greene was battling his own demons. In a profile published in the November 1996 issue of PREMIERE, the lanky blond actor with piercing blue eyes revealed that he had run away from home at the age of 15. Living on the streets of NYC, he drifted into drug use and eventually drug dealing. Barely escaping from dealers who attempted to kill him, Greene hid out in theaters and drifted into acting, eventually excelling at portraying villains, all the while ingest various drugs from cocaine to heroin. Greene has admitted to attempting suicide in March 1996. Shortly thereafter, he sought treatment for his addictions.