NEED TO KNOW
After celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary earlier this year, Peter Dinklage is sharing the secret to his marriage with wife Erica Schmidt.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at a special screening of his latest film, Roofman, in New York City on Monday, Sept. 8, Dinklage, 56, had just one word to sum up the key to their relationship.
“Patience. Patience. Yeah. Patience,” he says, adding that the pair have been married a “little over” 20 years after tying the knot in April 2005 when they eloped in Las Vegas.
“I was going there for a charity event,” the actor said during a 2016 interview with The New York Times. “And then while we were there, we just decided to do it. It was a bit lonely. We got a VHS videocassette of the wedding that no one will ever see, that we’ve buried in a box deep beneath the earth’s core.”
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He and the playwright and theater director have since become parents to two children. They welcomed a daughter in 2011 and a second child in 2017, though their names have never been revealed.
While talking about shooting Roofman, which is partly set in a Toys “R” Us and sees Dinklage star as the store’s manager, the Game of Thrones actor shared how the set was particularly useful for those of the cast — which includes Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst — who are parents.
“For all of us with children, it was a gold mine because they really filled that Toys “R” Us, which was an abandoned old Toys “R” Us that they renovated and made it into a present day back in the film time Toys “R” Us. And yeah, that was our wrap gift,” he tells PEOPLE, adding that they were able to take home toys from the set.
Per an official synopsis, Roofman is based on an “unbelievable” true story and “follows Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a former Army Ranger and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname: Roofman.”
“After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys “R” Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in,” the synopsis added.
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Dinklage told PEOPLE he was specially excited about working with Tatum and Dunst on the project, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 6,
“They are such incredible actors and they’re so lived-in in these roles and it felt so sort of grassroots, the whole operation,” Dinklage tells PEOPLE. “And they were so happy to be there. Everybody’s energy was so lovely and I had always dreamed of working with the two of them and I got to.”
Roofman is in theaters Oct. 10.
