Biography
Peter Spears (born November 29, 1965) is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. Spears is best known for winning an Oscar for producing Nomadland (2020), and for producing film Call Me by Your Name (2017). He directed the underground cult-favorite short film Ernest and Bertram, which portrayed Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie as gay lovers, and developed the television series Nightmare Cafe and John from Cincinnati.
Known For
Complete Filmography
On Swift Horses
2025
Producer
In the 1950s, a seemingly sensible newlywed and her wayward brother-in-law undertake parallel journeys of risk, romance, and self-discovery.
Queer
2024
Executive Producer
1950. William Lee, an American expat in Mexico City, spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small ...
Drift
2024
Producer
After fleeing civil war in Liberia, a formerly-privileged refugee is barely scraping by in her new life in Greece when she strikes up an unexpected fr...
Bones and All
2022
Producer
Abandoned by her father, a young woman embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. ...
Nomadland
2021
as Peter
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling...
Nomadland
2021
Producer
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling...
Sublet
2020
as David
A gay New York Times travel writer comes to Tel Aviv after suffering a tragedy. The energy of the city and his relationship with a younger man brings ...
Call Me by Your Name
2017
as Isaac
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's...
Call Me by Your Name
2017
Producer
In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's...
Until We Could
2014
Producer
Until We Could, a gorgeous new video poem written by Richard Blanco, celebrates love and the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The film is narrat...
Careless
2007
Director, Writer
Wiley Roth finds a severed human finger in his kitchen one night. Understandably freaked out, in a search across Los Angeles that brings them in conta...
Something's Gotta Give
2003
as Danny Benjamin
When perpetually single, aging music industry exec Harry Sanborn, and his latest trophy girlfriend, Marin, arrive at her mother's beach house in the H...
Ernest and Bertram
2002
Director, Writer
A reimagining of the lives of Sesame Street muppets Bert and Ernie, who face a crisis when "Variety" magazine brands them as closeted homosexuals.
The Opposite of Sex
1998
as Dr. Allen
A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.
The Love Bug
1997
as Young Dr. Stumpfel
The inimitable VW Beetle is losing all his races and destined for the scrap heap until mechanic Hank takes him over and gives him a new lease of life....
Father of the Bride Part II
1995
as Dr. Wagner
Just when George Banks has recovered from his daughter's wedding, he receives the news that she's pregnant ... and that George's wife is expecting too...
Cries from the Heart
1994
as Jeff
Michael, a young autistic boy who has trouble with verbalization but a real talent for technology, uses a computer to plead for help after being moles...
Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story
1992
as Peter
An AIDS-stricken woman becomes a leader in the struggle to educate people about the disease and its prevention.
Mike Nichols: A Life
N/A
Producer
In 1966, stage director Mike Nichols journeys from Broadway to Hollywood to make his first film, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, depicting his high-s...
Leading Men
N/A
Producer
In July 1953, at a glittering party thrown by Truman Capote in Portofino, Italy, Tennessee Williams and his longtime lover Frank Merlo meet Anja Blomg...
The Fredy Hirsch Story
N/A
Producer
An animated documentary about the life of Fredy Hirsch, the German Jewish and gay prisoner who led children’s programming in Terezin and Auschwitz.