Peter Strauss

The face that invented modern television

Peter Strauss was born in New York City in 1947 and never wanted to be a conventional movie star. His debut in Soldier Blue in 1970 put him on the map of socially conscious cinema, but his destiny lay on the small screen. Back then, prestige actors looked down on television.

He changed the rules of the game.

In 1976, he played Rudy Jordache in Rich Man, Poor Man. The series gripped the United States and half of Europe with a story blending family drama and political ambition. Fifty million viewers followed the characters' fates each week.

He was the first major phenomenon of big-budget miniseries.

But Strauss did not want to be typecast as the tortured leading man. He looked for projects with clear political weight, because he understood that fiction could educate the average viewer. So he agreed to star in Masada in 1981. That production, filmed in Israel, cost 25 million dollars at the time and required thousands of extras in the middle of the desert.

From the Spotlight to the Recording Studio

Throughout the eighties and nineties, he landed one role after another in productions like Kane & Abel in 1985 or The Last Train in 1999. His deep voice became an asset as valuable as his looks. He also began voicing characters in animated series like Biker Mice from Mars and Batman: The Animated Series.

And the market changed again.

Strauss adapted to the television of the new century without nostalgia. In 2020, he appeared in the series Grey's Anatomy as Daniel Crawford. Before that, in 2018, he joined the cast of Operation Finale alongside Oscar Isaac. His working method has stayed the same since he started out in Broadway theaters.

In the late nineties, he decided to diversify his interests beyond the film set. He runs a citrus production company in California that takes up much of his free time. In 2023, he stayed away from major commercial releases to focus on voice work and dramatized readings. His ranch has over 400 fruit trees that he personally oversees.