Happy Birthday, Peter Dinklage! Facts About The Game Of Thrones Star That Will Make You Love Him

Peter Dinklage is well-known and well-loved for his role as Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, and today, the actor turns 47. But, before he exploded onto the scenes in Westeros, Dinklage was already in the middle of a pretty amazing life. Many Game of Thrones fans have fallen in love with Tyrion Lannister — but there are plenty of reasons to fall in love with the man who plays Tyrion, as well.

To begin with, Peter Dinklage has always chosen integrity over money. The Game of Thrones actor has always refused to take any demeaning jobs.

“Dwarves are still the butt of jokes,” Dinklage said in an interview with the New York Times. “It’s one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice…by media, everything.”

As an actor, Dinklage refused to perpetuate the stigma and declined any job that did so.

And when he isn’t busy drinking and knowing things, Peter Dinklage is a family man. He married actress Erica Schmidt, and in 2011, the happy couple welcomed their first daughter, whom they named Zelig. Dinklage and his family live in upstate New York.

In fact, to perpetuate the rather normal, boring “family man” vision of Peter Dinklage, according to Just Luxe, one of Peter Dinklage’s favorite pastimes in “playing in his herb garden while wearing old man sweaters.”

And growing his own herbs and vegetables must come in handy, since Dinklage is, in fact, a vegetarian.

“I like animals. All animals,” he says. “I wouldn’t hurt a cat or a dog — or a chicken, or a cow.” Dinklage has made announcements for the animal rights’ group PETA, and donates to various animal rights groups.

And for some Game of Thrones-related facts, author George R.R. Martin knew from the beginning that Dinklage was the only one for the role of Tyrion Lannister. In fact, HBO didn’t even ask Dinklage to audition before offering him the role. But, Dinklage says, he isn’t a “tough guy” like Tyrion sees himself, and says that the fight scenes featuring him are a “big lie.” He explains that fighting is awkward and strange for him, and how he is usually wishing for a helmet when engaging in those scenes.

“There’s a scene in the show when I chop a man’s leg off from behind. The gentleman was probably about 70 years old. They filmed him from the back, so you don’t see how old he is. Also he’s an amputee. He had one leg, so basically I just knocked out the fake leg. I had a big dull sword, and I knocked a wooden leg off an amputee who was 70 years old. So to answer your question, no, I don’t feel like a bada**. The fight scenes are all a big lie. The whole time, you’re trying not to get hit in the eye with a sword, and you wish you had on a welding helmet.”

And it was Dinklage who suggested long-time friend Lena Headey for the role of Cersei; so, if Tyrion ever joins the constantly-growing pool of dead Game of Throne characters, perhaps he could go into casting and production.

Also, you’ll never see Tyrion Lannister sporting a big, long beard in Game of Thrones, and that’s because Peter Dinklage isn’t a big fan of facial hair — or, rather, isn’t a fan of the stereotype that a long, pointy beard perpetuates.

Before Dinklage even learned about the show or the character HBO wanted him to play, he made two requests: no pointy elf-shoes, and no long elf-beards.

“Dwarves in these genres always have this look. My guard was up. Not even my guard — my metal fence, my barbed wire was up. Even Lord of the Rings had dwarf-tossing jokes in it. It’s like, Really?”

But he learned that Tyrion wasn’t the typical “fantasy little person.” Instead, Tyrion was an actual person who just happened to also be a dwarf.

“He’s somebody who turns that on its head. No beard, no pointy shoes, a romantic, real human being.”

There’s little doubt that Dinklage has turned Tyrion into one of Game of Thrones most beloved characters. In fact, his stardom has resulted in advances from women, even though he is a married man. But, Dinklage doesn’t put much stock in it, saying that although the attention from women is appreciated, he “takes everything with a grain of salt.”

“Women still go for guys who are 6-foot-2. It’s nice that people are thinking outside the box, but I don’t believe it for a minute,” he said in an interview with Playboy.

And speaking of stature, do not call Dinklage a “midget.” Ever.

“It’s like the N-word among short-statured people. The etymology of the word is not good, but some of us have made it our own. We add an e with an accent at the end, so now it’s midgeté — sort of a French version. I have a friend — not a dwarf — who’s an alchemist of sorts. He concocted a men’s cologne that he calls Midgeté Midgeté. He gave me a bottle as a gift. I was thinking, ‘We should totally put this on the market.’ You know how Jessica Simpson and Beyoncé have signature perfumes and make a mint? I’m thinking this cologne could be my ticket to fortune. When this Game of Thrones thing winds down, Midgeté Midgeté could be my next thing.”

Peter Dinklage is many things: husband, father, an incredibly talented actor, and, perhaps most importantly, a man with both an incredible sense of humor and an even stronger sense of integrity.

Happy birthday, Peter Dinklage!

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Entertainment]