The Actor You Remember From Pulp Fiction and The Mask Has Died at 60

 Peter Greene, a Singular Screen Presence Known for Pulp Fiction and The Mask, Dies at 60

Peter Greene in 2012.
Craig Barritt / Getty Images

Article at a glance

• Who: Peter Greene, a distinctive character actor best known for intense roles in Pulp Fiction, The Mask, The Usual Suspects, and Training Day.
• What: Greene was found dead in his New York City apartment at age 60; his manager confirmed the news.
• When & Where: He was discovered in his Lower East Side home on Friday following a wellness check.
• Cause of death: Not disclosed as of publication.
• Why he mattered: Greene built a lasting legacy as one of Hollywood’s most memorable “bad guys,” delivering unsettling, emotionally complex performances that elevated some of the most iconic films of the 1990s.
• Survived by: A sister and a brother.

Peter Greene never needed much screen time to make an audience uneasy. A crooked smile, a coiled stillness, a voice that sounded like it had lived several hard lives before the first line of dialogue—Greene specialized in characters who felt dangerous not because they were loud, but because they were unpredictable. That unsettling magnetism made him unforgettable in films like Pulp Fiction, The Mask, The Usual Suspects, and Training Day. It also cemented his reputation as one of Hollywood’s most distinctive character actors.

Greene was found dead Friday inside his Lower East Side apartment in New York City, his manager, Gregg Edwards, confirmed. He was 60. No cause of death has been disclosed. The news was first reported by the New York Daily News and later confirmed by NBC News, both citing Edwards.

A Career Built on Controlled Menace

Greene’s breakout role came in 1994, a year that would define much of his legacy. In Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, he played Zed, the sadistic pawnshop security guard whose brief but brutal appearance left an indelible mark on the film. The character was monstrous, but Greene avoided caricature. His Zed was frightening precisely because he seemed so casually cruel—an ordinary man capable of extraordinary violence.

That same year, Greene appeared opposite Jim Carrey in The Mask as Dorian Tyrell, the film’s primary antagonist. Where Carrey’s performance was elastic and anarchic, Greene anchored the film with a grounded, street-level threat. He wasn’t flashy; he didn’t need to be. He radiated danger simply by standing still.

“Nobody played a bad guy better than Peter,” Edwards said in a phone interview, according to NBC News. “But he also had a gentle side that most people never saw, and a heart as big as gold.”

Related Reading: 

Influencer Mary Magdalene Dies at 33 After Thailand Fall

Beyond Villains: A Serious Actor’s Actor

While mainstream audiences remember Greene for villains, many critics point to his lead performance in the 1993 independent film Clean, Shaven as his most important work. Greene portrayed a man with schizophrenia suspected of murder, delivering a raw, deeply physical performance that refused easy sympathy or judgment.

A New York Times review at the time described his portrayal as “compellingly anguished,” noting that Greene brought volatility and depth to a character who could easily have been reduced to pathology. It was a performance that signaled his range—and his willingness to take risks.

As a supporting actor, Greene continued to leave his mark. In The Usual Suspects, he played Redfoot, the jittery fence whose nervous energy set the plot in motion. In Training Day, he appeared as Jeff, a detective complicit in Alonzo Harris’s corruption. His character’s fate—agreeing to be shot while wearing a bulletproof vest to help fabricate a cover story—culminates in one of the film’s most chilling exchanges. Just before Denzel Washington’s Harris fires, Greene’s character mutters, “Kiss me, baby,” a line that lingers long after the scene ends.

A Life Largely Out of the Spotlight

Born on Oct. 8, 1965, in Montclair, New Jersey, Greene moved to New York City in his twenties and began acting there, according to his biography on IMDb. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he never chased celebrity. His career unfolded mostly at the margins of Hollywood fame, where character actors often do their best work.

Edwards said a wellness check was requested after music had reportedly been playing in Greene’s apartment for more than 24 hours. He added that he had spoken with Greene earlier in the week. Greene is survived by a sister and a brother.

Remembering the Films

For readers interested in revisiting Greene’s work, films like Pulp Fiction, The Mask, The Usual Suspects, and Training Day remain widely available on Blu-ray and streaming platforms. Physical copies of these titles can also be found through retailers like Amazon, where collectors often seek out definitive editions of 1990s cinema classics.

An Enduring Presence

Peter Greene occupied a rare space in American film: the actor who could make audiences flinch without raising his voice, who could suggest an entire criminal backstory with a glance. He was never the star, but he was often the thing you remembered afterward—the performance that lingered in the mind once the credits rolled.

In an era increasingly dominated by spectacle and scale, Greene’s work stands as a reminder of the power of restraint. His characters didn’t demand attention. They earned it.