Biography
This page uses content from the Peter Billingsley biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1972 in New York City), is an American actor probably best known for his role as Ralphie in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, whose requests for a genuine Red Ryder BB Gun were repeatedly greeted with "You'll shoot your eye out!" He is also remembered: as Messy Marvin in a series of commercials for Hershey's chocolate syrup in the early '80s; as the kid reporter on the show Real People; and as a would-be jock who gets hooked on steroids (with predictably catastrophic results) in the CBS Schoolbreak Special "The Fourth Man," which also starred Nicole Eggert (as Billingsley's worried girlfriend) and football great Lyle Alzado (whose life was taken in 1992 by brain cancer traced to years of steroid use)...and which boasted a memorable music score by new age-composer/TV host John Tesh.
As he grew older, his acting career lost momentum, waning through a string of variable projects. The most rewarding of his later film acting assignments was 1993's Arcade, in which he starred as a teenaged "virtual reality" addict. He made some career decisions and began directing and producing movies. In 2001, he was nominated for an Emmy Award as co-executive producer for the show "Dinner for Five". In 2005 helped produce the movie Zathura (2005). He recently served as an executive producer for the Universal Pictures production The Break-Up starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn in which he also plays the supporting character Andrew appearing alongside frequent collaborator Jon Favreau.
Three of his siblings were also actors: Win Michaelsen who is now an attorney in Turkey, Neil Billingsley who now works for TM Capital, and Melissa Michaelsen. His father, Alwin Michaelsen, is a financial consultant. His mother, Gail Billingsley, is the niece of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley. Gail's cousin, Glenn Billingsley, was briefly married to actress Barbara Billingsley who continued to use his last name for her stage name.
Billingsley is currently serving as executive producer on director Jon Favreau's Iron Man feature film.
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