Peter Hermann was born in New York and attended Yale. He met his wife, Mariska Hargitay, on the set of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).Before becoming an actor, Peter taught ESL and Special Ed as part of Teach For America Program. After that, he became a fact checker at Vanity Fair.He speaks four languages: English, German, Spanish, and French.Peter has done numerous commercials including one for heartburn medication, NyQuil, and Truth ads. (Non smoking ads). In his spare time, Peter enjoys reading and photography.