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'Wow, this is really fun, but what are the chances of us ever making a living out of this?' I got so mad that he said that. I was like, I'm going to make a living out of this." After a year at St. John's, Peter transferred to NYU to study theater, and told his parents the acting classes would ultimately help him as a lawyer. "'You have to get up in front of jurors and I'm really shy, so these acting classes are going to help me be a better lawyer.' And they didn't know any better, so they said, 'OK.' Yeah, they're still waiting for me to be a lawyer," he adds with a smile. Peter has been making a living as an actor since 1995 — just as he planned. This fall, you can also catch him in the films, Running with the Devil and Countdown. The former is a crime drama that Peter stars in alongside Nicholas Cage and Laurence Fishburne. "You're watching how this drug affects all these people as it moves into different hands. I play an officer [Number One], and he's after The Cook [Nicholas] and The Man [Laurence]. That was fun," he says about Running with the Devil. Countdown is a thriller / horror film, whose IMDb description reads: We follow three true stories from three diverse high school students as they struggle against unrealistic expectations, stress, and an uphill battle against time. "Sometimes you take a thing for different reasons. I like the director [Justin Dec] on Countdown. I thought the script was fun. I liked the company STX. It's hard. You never know — is this going to be good? Nobody goes into a movie going, Hey, let's make a terrible movie. Everybody tries to make a good movie, it's not always easy," Peter muses. You can have the best names in entertainment attached to a film, and this still doesn't guarantee a blockbuster hit. It's hard to predict whether a film or T V show will be a success or a flop. When Peter's agents first mentioned Twilight (one of the largest film franchises he has starred in) to him, he initially declined. "They [his agents] said, 'You want to do a vampire movie? I said, 'no,' they asked, 'why?' I was like, 'I don't want to do blood and guts.' I was thinking some old guy in a cape somewhere with a stake through the heart. Y'know? Some B vampire movie." His agents advised him to read Stephenie Meyer's novel —as soon as he did, he had a change of heart. "It was fantastic. Vampire stuff is really the backdrop of this beautiful love story," Peter explains. And when he found out that Catherine Hardwicke was directing, he was sold. The next day, he went in to audition and landed the role of Cullen family patriarch, Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Peter went on to shoot all five movies in The Twilight Saga film series. Is there a role that you would like to play and haven't played yet? "I feel like I've done almost every genre now, so it's a tough question. Because even in every genre, there's different things to play." Peter has portrayed three doctors —in Twilight, Nurse Jackie, and Countdown — yet, all have been completely different, he explains. He is always on the prowl for roles that aren't familiar. "I always thought if you put all my characters in one room, it'd be a fun party." He smiles and continues. "Like, if you take Mike Dexter from Can't Hardly Wait, he's hanging out with Carlisle Cullen. Carlisle Cullen is hanging out with Van Ray from Fastlane and that guy is hanging out with Dr. Cooper," he muses about the diverse group. Who would you be hanging out with in that group? Like, who would you befriend? "I mean, they're all so different to me... I like Coop from Nurse Jackie, just because he's funny. I always laughed a lot. I like comedy, I don't often play it. I try to find comedy in things, sometimes, when it's not even funny, but I think that that's the way life is. Even in the most dramatic times, there's comedy." ML Follow Peter on IG, Twitter, and Facebook: @PeterFacinelli, and don't miss Hour of Lead, Countdown, and Running with the Devil. "I always thought if you put all my characters in one room, it'd be a fun party."