Clarke Peters (born Peter Clarke in 1952) is an American actor, singer, and writer who is most famously known for his role as Detective Lester Freamon on the hit HBO drama ‘The Wire’.
Born in New York City, Peters grew up in Englewood, New Jersey and graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in 1970. He earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for writing the revue ‘Five Guys Named Moe’.
As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in ‘The Iceman Cometh’, which won him the Theatre World Award, and as shady lawyer Billy Flynn in the revival of ‘Chicago’ in 2000 and 2003. His West End theatre credits include ‘Blues in the Night’, ‘Porgy and Bess’, ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, and ‘Chicago’. In regional theatre he has appeared in ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, ‘The Wiz’, ‘Bubbling Brown Sugar’, ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom’, ‘Carmen Jones’, and ‘The Amen Corner’.
Peters also starred in the HBO mini series ‘The Corner,’ portraying a drug dealer named Fat Curt. His screen credits also include Notting Hill, K-Pax, and Freedomland.
