Fonda first came to prominence when he made his Broadway debut in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, for which he received rave reviews from the New York Critics and won the Daniel Blum Theatre World Award and the New York Critics Circle Award for Best New Actor.
He began his feature film career in 1963 playing the romantic lead in Tammy and the Doctor. He went on to star in The Victors, and for director Roger Corman in Wild Angels and The Trip.
In 1969, he starred in the seminal anti-establishment film Easy Rider, which he also produced and co-scripted, receiving an Academy Award® nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His acting credits also include Outlaw Blues, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Race with the Devil, Lillith, Split Image, Robert Wise’s Two People and the cult films Love and .45 and Nadja. His more recent work includes Alison Anders’ Grace of My Heart and John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A. He also made a cameo appearance in Bodies, Heat & Motion, which starred his daughter Bridget.
On television, Fonda most recently garnered Golden Globe nominations for two compelling telefilm performances: NBC’s The Tempest and Showtime’s The Passion of Ayn Rand, for which he won as well as received nominations for an Emmy and a SAG award.
Peter Fonda has also found success as a motion picture director, making his debut in 1971 with the western The Hired Hand. His other credits include Idaho Transfer and Wanda Nevada, in which he starred as a gambler who wins Brooke Shields in a poker game.
Fonda recently published his autobiography, Don’t Tell Dad.