All about Evan Peters’ parents: Their contribution to his career
Arturo Holmes/FilmMagic Evan Peters has plenty of acting experience, having played Quicksilver in the X-Men film series and played multiple roles in the anthology series American Horror Story – Peters isn’t an actor searching for his big break. However, the attention he’s gotten for playing Jeffrey Dahmer in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story eclipses the hype he’s received for any other role during his nearly two-decade career.
Peters plays Jeffrey Dahmer, a demented murderer accused of, among other things, cannibalism and necrophilia. Evan has received widespread critical and fan praise for his performance.
Evan wouldn’t be the success he is today without the support of his parents, Julie and Phil Peters.
Evan Peters’ parents gave him one year to succeed in California or give up his acting dreams
Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic Evan Peters was born on 20th January 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Julie and Phil Peters. He was raised Catholic alongside his older brother, Andrew, and older paternal half-sister, Michelle.
In 2001, the family moved to Grand Blanc, Michigan, where Evan took acting classes at Flint Youth Theater and pursued modeling. “I got bit by the acting bug,” Peters told MLive. “But mostly I wanted to meet the Olsen twins. They were 15, I was 15… the acting thing seemed like the best way.”
Peters won several awards at an American Model and Talent Conference in Florida, where a photographer linked Peters and his mother to an agent in Los Angeles. “Everybody seemed to think he had something,” Julie said.
After signing with a manager and agent in Los Angeles, Peters landed a role in Clipping Adam. His performance won him a Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award. Phil, then an executive for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and Julie decided to give Evan a year in Los Angeles to succeed in Acting.
Julie and Evan moved to Los Angeles, leaving Phil and Andrew in Michigan. “The talent manager said that a year was not enough time to know if he could succeed or not,” Phil said. However, Peters proved he was the real deal. Julie said:
“It was a busy year. He got that movie, then a commercial for Sony PlayStation, four or five episodes of ‘Phil of the Future,’ and they just kept coming. At the end of two years, he was able to pitch in and pay for some of the bills. I kept saying, ‘Do you really want to do this?’”
Peters earned his high school diploma through home-schooling with his mother. Eventually, Julie returned to Michigan, leaving Evan to fend for himself. Evan had the chance to meet the Olsen twins during a movie premiere, but he freaked out and couldn’t approach them.
Evan didn’t complete college, saying he would return if his acting career failed. “I think if I’m at 30 or something like that, if I’m a bum, eating ketchup packets, that’s when I’ll probably go back to college. For now, I’m just chilling. Living the life. Living the dream,” Evan said. Evan Peters is still living the dream.
