Peter Dinklage, who is best known for his role in Game Of Thrones as Tyrion Lannister is celebrating his silver jubilee today as he turns 50. He has inspired people all around the world with his indomitable spirit and the passion for his craft.
Peter Hayden Dinklage was born in 1969, in Morristown, New Jersey and was different right from his birth. Born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, Dinklage grew up as the only dwarf in his family with his parents and older brother, Jonathan. The four feet five inches tall actor has an average-sized head and torso but shorter than average limbs.
He was criticised and bullied while growing up but fought against all odds to be a part of the film industry and eventually part of one of the most popular series, ‘Game of Thrones’. He revealed in an interview that as an adolescent, he was bitter and angry. But as he grew up, he realised, “you just have to have a sense of humour. You just know that it’s not your problem. It’s theirs.”
He made his debut in the film, ‘Living in Oblivion’ (1995) which was very well received by the critics. But his breakthrough came with the comedy-drama The Station Agent (2003). He has since appeared in Elf (2003), Find Me Guilty (2006), Underdog (2007), Death at a Funeral (2007), Penelope (2008), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Pixels (2015), and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), which earned him his first Screen Actors Guild Award.
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In 2018, he appeared as Eitri in the Marvel Cinematic Universes film, Avengers: Infinity War and Hervé Villechaize in the biopic film My Dinner with Hervé.
However, his biggest role till date has been playing Tyrion Lannister in the HBO series, GoT for which he won three Primetime Emmys from seven nominations. He also received a Golden Globe for the role in 2011.
Although, his journey was full of struggles as he was offered typical roles because of his condition and he would often turn them down as he did not want to stereotype. He faced many failures and turned down opportunities before he could land the role in GoT and became one of the highest paid actors on Television. Many are not aware that he didn’t have to audition for his role in ‘Game of Thrones’ as writer George RR Martin always wanted him to play the role of Tyrion.
Besides acting, Peter is also a committed vegetarian and contributes to many animal rights causes, actively filming for PETA.
Here is wishing Peter Dinklage a happy 50th and may he always fight for the right.