Peter Coyote

Before becoming an actor at the age of 39, he spent 15 years in the counterculture movement during the 1960s. He wrote a memoir of that time in his life, called "Sleeping Where I Fall," which was published in full in 1998. It has gone through five hardback printings and is in its second paperback edition. "Carla's Story", a chapter from the book which was released earlier, won the Pushcart Prize for Excellence in Non-Fiction in 1993/1994.

Graduated with a B.A in English Literature from Iowa's Grinnell College in 1964.

He began using the last name of Coyote, for the animal, considered otherworldly by some Native Americans, after meeting a Paiute-Shoshone shaman in 1967.

Tested for the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). His clumsiness during this process endeared him to Steven Spielberg, who felt that the role of the childlike Keys in E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial (1982) would be perfect for Coyote.

He was paid just $28,000 for his role in E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial (1982), his fifth feature film role, and his eighth overall. But when the film passed $300,000,000 in international box office, director/producer Steven Spielberg sent him a "thank you" check for $10,000, which Coyote considered very generous.

He worked with Jerry Hardin in Heartbreakers (1984). He later played DA Jerry Hardin in Law & Order: LA (2010).

Is so far the only American actor to work with Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. He starred in Kika (1993), throughout which he speaks Spanish, in which he is fluent.

Along with Glenn Close, he narrated the opening ceremonies of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (2002 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA).