Peter Van Norden
WITH A NOISE WITHIN:
2023-24 Season: John Tarleton, Misalliance
ELSEWHERE: Most recently directed the one-man-puppet show version of Huckleberry Finn at Moving Arts in Atwater Village. Just before that, he appeared in two versions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (at The Antaeus Thr. Co. and at the Shakespeare Center L.A.). Other recent appearances include ‘Polonius’ and ‘The Gravedigger’ in Hamlet at the Antaeus Thr. Co., for which he was nominated for a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and where he won 2019 Ovation Award for Best Actor in Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse.
He has appeared as both ‘Shylock’ in The Merchant of Venice and as ‘Falstaff,’ covering and performing for Tom Hanks in Henry IV, Parts I and II for the Shakespeare Center L.A.
Peter was also nominated for the 2020 Ovation Award as Best Featured Actor in Red Ink at Playwright’s Arena/Atwater Village.
At La Mirada Thr. Co. he appeared in 1776 (as ‘Ben Franklin’) and in Singing in the Rain.
For 5 years he played, ‘Ebeneezer Scrooge’ in A Christmas Carol at the Rubicon Thr. in Ventura and at the San Diego Rep. Peter was the first American actor to play the title role in Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III at Arizona Thr. Co.
In his native NYC: Little Johnny Jones (with Donny Osmond), Hamlet (with both Kevin Kline and Sam Waterston), Jungle of Cities (with Al Pacino), Henry V (with Meryl Streep), and Saint Joan (with Lynn Redgrave).
FILM and TV: Roles include leads in The Accused (opposite Oscar winner, Jodie Foster), Police Academy 2 (as Steve Guttenberg’s inept partner), The Naked Gun 2 ½ (as John Sununu) and the Stephen King mini-series, The Stand.