Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is known for his roles as the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Pete in Shaun of the Dead (2004), Garthan Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), the voice of Big Daddy in Sing (2016) and Sing 2 (2021), The Sommelier in John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and Spitelout in the live-action remake How to Train Your Dragon (2025).
On television, Serafinowicz created and starred in the comedy shows Look Around You (2002–2005) and The Peter Serafinowicz Show (2007–2008). He also voiced characters and worked as a creative consultant on South Park (2006–2015), portrayed Edgar Covington in Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), voiced the Fisher King in Doctor Who (2015), and starred as the title character in the live-action adaptation series The Tick (2016). His other television work includes voicing characters in animated series such as Archer, Bob's Burgers, Rick and Morty, The Simpsons, American Dad!, and the second season of What If...?, reprising his live-action role as Garthan Saal.
Serafinowicz has voiced characters in video games such as Dark Souls II (2014), LittleBigPlanet 3 (2014), and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016). He has also directed music videos for acts such as Hot Chip and went viral in 2016 for political satire videos in which he dubbed over videos of Donald Trump with a "sassy" voice, a Cockney accent, and a posh English accent.
Early life
Serafinowicz was born into a Catholic family in Liverpool's Gateacre suburb on 10 July 1972, the son of post office worker Catherine (née Geary) and scaffolder Szymon Serafinowicz Jr. His father was born and raised in Surrey to a Polish mother and a Polish–Belarusian father and later moved to Liverpool as an adult.
At the age of three, Serafinowicz moved with his family to the Belle Vale district of Liverpool where he attended Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School. The family moved back to Gateacre when he was 14 and he attended St Francis Xavier's College in neighbouring Woolton. He later said: "I had a very happy childhood, but Belle Vale was very rough. I was only about three when we moved there, but I can still remember it looking very shiny, and it was all landscaped. But it was a very poor area, and it became scruffy quite quickly. [...] Gateacre is traditionally seen as one of the posh areas of Liverpool [but] it wasn't really that much posher!" The series was also nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Television Awards.
Serafinowicz made guest appearances on television, including the comedy shows Smack the Pony and Hippies (both 1999), Black Books (2000), I'm Alan Partridge (2002) and Little Britain (2003), comedy-drama Murder Most Horrid (1999), ITV drama series Agatha Christie's Marple (2006) and Parks and Recreation (2013).
His numerous guest appearances on panel shows for radio and television include regular appearances on The 99p Challenge, and on Have I Got News for You in 2005, 2006 and 2008; 8 Out of 10 Cats in 2005, and QI in 2003. He also appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 19 October 2007; Would I Lie to You? on 8 August 2008 and 30 July 2010 and Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 15 October 2009.
In 2008, Serafinowicz was working with Robert Popper on a new television series and website, based on a spoof religion "Tarvuism" for US network Adult Swim. In 2009, he appeared in Universal Films' Couples Retreat as Sctanley, the manager of the Eden Resort, directed by Peter Billingsley.
In 2010, Serafinowicz directed the music video for Hot Chip's song "I Feel Better", their second single from the album One Life Stand. He followed this up in 2012 when he directed the music video for the band's song "Night & Day", the first single from their album In Our Heads.
On 28 July 2010, Popper and Serafinowicz added a new narration track to an episode of "Out Of Town" by Jack Hargreaves in order to create the spoof film "Markets of Britain, a short film by Lee Titt".
In 2010, he co-starred with Will Arnett in the FOX sitcom Running Wilde, devised by Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz. It premiered on Fox on 21 September 2010, but was cancelled by the network after 13 episodes.
In June 2013, Serafinowicz provided the English-language audiobook recording for the Roald Dahl novel Danny, the Champion of the World. In July 2013, he made his film directing debut with the dark comedy film I See What You Did There, which he wrote, along with Danny Wallace.
In 2014, it was announced that Serafinowicz would play the role of Crowley in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's novel Good Omens.
That same year, he was featured in Guardians of the Galaxy playing Garthan Saal, a Denarian ranking pilot of the Nova Corps. He appeared in Series 9 of Doctor Who as the voice of The Fisher King.
During 2016, Serafinowicz created a series of YouTube videos entitled "Sassy Trump", in which he redubbed speeches given by Donald Trump with a camp voice. The videos were deleted from his YouTube channel in 2020, but have been re-uploaded by others. He has also created videos dubbing Trump with a Cockney accent and a posh English accent.
Due to Serafinowicz's impersonation of Paul McCartney, Matt Berry sang a duet with him on Berry's 2009 album Witchazel. The track in question was "Rain Came Down", where he was billed as Paul McCartney. He stars in the title role of Amazon's The Tick, the pilot for which premiered on 19 August 2016. In 2020 Serafinowicz guest starred in the second season of TBS' Miracle Workers.
In September and October 2023, Serafinowicz began touring the UK as his character Brian Butterfield from The Peter Serafinowicz Show in the (Placeholder Name) Tour. The show toured the UK again in May and June 2024 as Brian Butterfield's Call of Now. In March 2024, Serafinowicz played Tommy Dixon in the crime series The Gentlemen.
In February 2025, Serafinowicz played Johannes Van Der Velde in the BBC comedy drama series Amandaland. In March 2025 he hosted Netflix showillon Dollar Secret.In May 2026, Serafinowicz appeared in a cameo role on Saturday Night Live UK, playing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in the show's cold open. In April 2026 he returned as host for the second series of Million Dollar Secret.
Personal life
Serafinowicz met actress Sarah Alexander in 2002 when she was in a relationship with actor Gerald Harper, who was 40 years her senior. She left Harper for Serafinowicz and later married him. Serafinowicz has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which was diagnosed when he was 40.
In 1995, his Belarusian paternal grandfather, Szymon Serafinowicz Sr, was charged under the provisions of the War Crimes Act 1991 for the murder of three unnamed Jews in 1941–1942 committed while he was a commander in the Nazi-controlled Belarusian Auxiliary Police in Mir, Belarus. He was later declared unfit to stand trial owing to advanced dementia.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1997
| Doppelganger
| (unknown)
| Voice, short film
|-
| 1999
| Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
| Darth Maul, Battle Droid Commander, Gungan Scout
| Voice
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2001
| The Junkies
| Big Al, Narrator
| Short film
|-
| Calcium
| Scientist
| Short film; writer & producer
|-
| 2003
| Hello Friend
| Email Voice-Over
| Voice, short film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2004
| Shaun of the Dead
| Pete
|
|-
| The Calcium Kid
| Dave King
|
|-
| 2005
| Ripley Under Ground
| Nigel
|
|-
| 2006
| Sixty Six
| Uncle Jimmy, Mr. Reubens Sr., Football Commentator
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2007
| Grindhouse
| Screaming Man
| Fake trailer in segment: Don't, uncredited role
|-
| Run Fatboy Run
| TV Sports Commentator
|
|-
| 2008
| Tales of the Riverbank
| Various characters
| Voice
|-
| 2024
| The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee
| Narrator (string puppet)
| Documentary film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2025
| How to Train Your Dragon
| Spitelout
|
|-
| Jingle Bell Heist
| Maxwell Sterling
|
|-
| 2028
| Elden Ring
|
| Filming
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1996
| Spitting Image
| Various characters
| Voice, 6 episodes
|-
| London Shouting
| (unknown)
| Television film
|-
| 1997
| Look and Read
| (unknown)
| Voice, 8 episodes
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1998
| Comedy Nation
| Various characters
| Unknown episodes
|-
| Europigeon
| Terry Wogan
| Voice, television film
|-
| Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
| Voice-over
| Voice, 6 episodes
|-
| Jack and the Beanstalk
| Second Henchman
| Televised pantomime at The Old Vic theatre
|-
| You Are Here
| Dr. Phil Phillips
| Television film
|-
| 1998–1999
| How Do You Want Me?
| Dean Yardley
| 9 episodes
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1999
| Murder Most Horrid
| Tony Frost
| Episode: "Dinner at Tiffany's"
|-
| Smack the Pony
| (unknown)
| 2 episodes
|-
| Sermon from St. Albion's
| Alastair Campbell
| 1 episode
|-
| The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns
| George Fitzpatrck
| 2-part mini-series
|-
| Hippies
| Narrator, Robin
| 2 episodes: "Hairy Hippies" & "Hippy Dippy Hippies"
|-
| 1999–2001
| Spaced
| Duane Benzie
| 3 episodes: "Beginnings", "Battles" & "Gone"
|-
| 2000
| Black Books
| Howell Granger
| Episode: "The Big Lock-Out"
|-
| 2001
| World of Pub
| Garry, various characters
| 6 episodes
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2002
| The What a Cartoon! Show
| Butch
| Voice, episode: "Colin Versus the World in 'Mr. Lounge Lizard'"
|-
| Rick and Morty
| Oxygen-S, Eight, Infinity
| Voice, episode "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie"
|-
| What If...?
| Garthan Saal
| Voice, episode "What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?"
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2024
| Dead Hot
| Danny
| 5 episodes
|-
| The Gentlemen
| Tommy Dixon
| 2 episodes: "Refined Aggression" & "Tackle Tommy Woo Woo"
|-
| Royal Crackers
| Sandy
| Voice, episode: "Prison"
|-
| Creature Commandos
| Victor Frankenstein
| Voice, episode: "The Tourmaline Necklace"
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2025
| Brian Butterfield's Call of Now
| Brian Butterfield (alter ego)
| Television Special, also writer
|-
| Amandaland
| Johannes Van Der Velde
| 3 episodes: "Boyfriends", "Camping" & "The Heesas"
|-
| 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
| Brian Butterfield (alter ego)
| Dictionary Corner guest, 1 episode
|-
| Wolf King
| Mack Ferran, Duke Manfred
| Voice, 5 episodes
|-
| Dexter Procter: The 10-Year-Old Doctor
| Dr. Drake
| 2-part mini-series
|-
|2025-2026
|Million Dollar Secret
| Himself, host
| 2 seasons, 16 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" |2026
|Saturday Night Live UK
|Nigel Farage
|Cameo
|-
| Hit Point
|
| Upcoming thriller
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Voice role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1996
| Drowned God
| Additional voices
|
|-
| 2001
| Z: Steel Soldiers
| Lassar
|
|-
| 2003
| Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior
| Space Marine Captain Ardius
|
|-
| 2013
| Lego City Undercover
| Forrest Blackwell, Cornelius Burns, Jethro Hayes
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| Dark Souls II
| Mild-Mannered Pate
|
|}
Audio
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2022–2023
| Discworld
| Death
| Series released as audiobooks by Penguin
|-
| 2024
| The Seneschal: A Rebel Moon Story
| Bartholomew
| Main role
|}