Dinklage has been the stand-out character of HBO's flagship show Game of Thrones for half a decade now.
His depiction of Tyrion Lannister has cemented him as one of the greatest TV actors of our time, up there with James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano and Bryan Cranston's Walter White.
His performance as the wine and whore loving dwarf has earned him two Emmy wins and a Golden Globe, as well as further nominations.
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However, until HBO came calling, he certainly wasn't a household name, so here are some things you possibly didn't know about him.
He was reportedly the first actor cast for Game of Thrones.
Credit: HBO
On top of being author George RR Martin's first choice for Tyrion Lannister in the show, he was also the first actor cast and did not even audition, according to reports. Talking to Salon he explained what convinced him to take on the role: "I told him I didn't want a really long beard and pointy shoes, and they assured me this character and this world wasn't that. They told me about his complexity, the fact that he wasn't a hero or a villain, that he was a womaniser and a drinker, and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him, so I signed on."
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Real life Peter Dinklage is just as razor sharp as his GoT counterpart.
Back in 2012, as season two of GoT was airing, Rolling Stone published a feature on the actor. As the interview was being conducted in an upstate NY park, a jogger noticed Dinklage.
After saying she saw him on the show, she wondered what else she recognised him from. It went like this:
"'You were also in, what was the other one I saw you in . . . ? What was it? It wasn't Sex and the City, was it?"
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"That was Sarah Jessica Parker," Dinklage says. "We get mistaken all the time."
"No," she said. "You were in Elf! That is my favourite movie! When you went on the table? I watch it all the time!"
"A holiday classic," Dinklage says.
"So you live right in this area? Or what?"
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"Right under the bridge here," Dinklage replied without a pause, remaining deadpan. "In a cave. Actually, you can't pass. You've got to solve a riddle. I have to give you a riddle and then you can walk past."
"Well, yeah," she added, blinking behind her shades. "Anyways, nice to meet you!" Perhaps she really didn't notice she was being rinsed?
He is an American.
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It's been well documented that Game of Thrones and the A Song of Ice and Fire novels are loosely based on The Tudors and The War of The Roses and as a result just about the entire cast of the show is British. Dinklage dons a sort of British accent like everyone else but he was actually born in Morristown, New Jersey, to John Carl and Diane Dinklage. His father was an insurance salesman while his mother taught music in elementary school.
He no longer lets his height affect him.
In an interview during the Toronto Film Festival back in 2003, he mentioned that as he's grown older he's learnt to laugh it off.
"As an adolescent, I was bitter and angry, and I definitely put up these walls. But the older you get, you realise you just have to have a sense of humour. You just know that it's not your problem. It's theirs."
The workshop where Game of Thrones comes to life.
He doesn't watch Game of Thrones.
Because he can't, as he doesn't pay for the network it's broadcast on. "I don't watch the show ... I mean, I don't have HBO," he explained.
Even as a struggling actor he refused to accept parts that exploited his height.
If the parts offered to him were leprechauns, elves or anything that made him feel "dirty," he would flat-out refuse. "I said no a lot, a lot," he confesses.
"I just feel like it's the responsibility of people my size to persevere a bit more about what they do. Because it will just perpetuate itself if you agree to do these things," he told Rolling Stone.
Words by Matthew Cooper
Lead Image Credit: PA
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Game of Thrones