Peter Billingsley

Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1971), also known as Peter Michaelsen and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for portraying Ralphie Parker in A Christmas Story and A Christmas Story Christmas. He also played Jack Simmons in The Dirt Bike Kid, Billy in Death Valley, and Messy Marvin in a series of commercials for Hershey's Syrup in the 1980s. While an infant, he began acting in television commercials.

Early life Peter was born on April 16, 1971, in New York City. His father, Alwin Michaelsen, is a financial consultant, and his mother, Gail, was once Alwin's secretary. She is the niece of Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley, and the cousin of Glenn Billingsley, who was married to actress Barbara Billingsley.

All five of the children in the family had acting careers when they were young. The older Billingsleys, Dina and Win, had the briefest acting careers, working mostly in commercials, with minor guest spots on television shows. Peter's older sister, Melissa, is best known for her role as Maxx Davis on Me and Maxx. Peter's older brother, Neil, began playing Danny Walton on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1975 and has had numerous roles in commercials and guest shots on TV series.

Peter Billingsley received his early education from a combination of tutors, public schools, and private institutions (including the Professional Children's School in New York City), Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley, Arizona and Longview Elementary School in Phoenix and eventually passed his California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) at age 14. He seems to have also attended some public secondary schools prior to passing the CHSPE, including Arcadia High School (in Phoenix).

Billingsley was a spokesman for the young-astronaut program and was present in 1986 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Career Billingsley's first acting role was when he was 2 in a 1973 Geritol commercial. He went on to star in about 120 television advertisements throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. At 12 he was quoted as saying, "After 100 [commercials], you lose count." He was best known for a series of commercials for Hershey's chocolate syrup in which he portrayed the character Messy Marvin. One of Billingsley's earliest film roles was in 1978's If Ever I See You Again, written and directed by Joseph Brooks. In 1981, he appeared in Honky Tonk Freeway. In 1982, Billingsley starred in several features, including Death Valley, Massarati and the Brain, and the made-for-TV movie Memories Never Die with Lindsay Wagner and his sister, Melissa. He had a featured guest role as Gideon Hale on Little House on the Prairie, began a three-year stint as a co-host on NBC's popular Real People (for which he earned another Young Artist Award nomination), The film earned Billingsley another Young Artist Award nomination, and is arguably the one role with which he is most associated. He has been quoted as saying that people still approach him on the street, only to say "you'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

In 1984, Billingsley starred in an adaptation of The Hoboken Chicken Emergency with Dick Van Patten and Gabe Kaplan, a special Thanksgiving episode of the PBS series WonderWorks. He appeared on a "Super Teen" special edition of Family Feud, and on Celebrity Hot Potato.

As the late 1980s approached, Billingsley's acting career slowed. He made guest appearances on Who's the Boss?, Punky Brewster, The Wonder Years, and Highway to Heaven. He appeared in The Dirt Bike Kid (for which he won a Young Artist Award), His next Schoolbreak Special appearance was in The Writing on the Wall (1994), starring Hal Linden as a rabbi who teaches three boys about the horrors of intolerance after they are caught defacing his home, temple, and car with swastikas and antisemitic graffiti. Billingsley was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role.

Other work The most notable of his later film acting assignments was Arcade (1993), in which he starred as a teenage "virtual reality" addict; he worked as the post-production supervisor, credited as Peter Michaelsen. He began working behind the scenes more often. Known as Peter Michaelsen, he was assistant editor on Knights, a film which featured Kris Kristofferson. In 1994, he starred in, wrote, and directed (credited as Peter Billingsley) the short film The Sacred Fire, and credited as Peter Michaelsen as the executive producer. The film won an Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films' Golden Scroll Award. Billingsley served as executive producer on director Favreau's Iron Man feature film; he also acted in the film playing William Ginter Riva, a scientist who works for Obadiah Stane; he reprised the role later in 2019 in the film Spider-Man: Far From Home. Billingsley, Favreau, and Vaughn appeared in Four Christmases (2008). Couples Retreat (2009) starring Favreau and Vaughn was Billingsley's first major film as director and was followed by his second directorial effort Term Life, which also starred Vaughn. He took an acting part in an experimental film for the new Maxivision 48 projection system which was developed by Dean Goodhill.

Billingsley released a CD titled Christmas Stories...Christmas Songs on Run For Cover Records in 1999 with longtime friend Brian Evans. He signed on as executive producer of a musical adaptation of A Christmas Story that opened in Seattle in December 2010. He said he was "honored to be a part of this project and looks forward to bringing the play to more stages... Just think about the idea of a leg-lamp kickline."

He served as a co-producer of the musical adaption of A Christmas Story when it hit Broadway in 2012. "The idea of a musical was very, very inspiring to me because it's really an extension of the story," Billingsley said in a November 2012 Playbill interview.

Personal life Billingsley married Elizabeth "Buffy" Bains in 2015. They have two children.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes Ref 1978 If Ever I See You Again Child 1981 Honky Tonk Freeway Little Billy Paternity Tad 1982 Death Valley Billy 1983 A Christmas Story Ralphie Parker 1985 The Dirt Bike Kid Jack Simmons 1987 Russkies Adam 1989 Beverly Hills Brats Scooter 1993 Arcade Nick 1994 The Sacred Fire Kyle Baker 2000 No Deposit, No Return 2001 Made Co-producer 2003 Elf Ming Ming the elfAlso co-producer 2005 Zathura: A Space Adventure Co-producer 2006 The Break-Up Andrew Also executive producer Wild West Comedy Show Himself Also co-producer 2008 Iron Man William Ginter Riva Also executive producer Four Christmases Ticket Agent 2009 Couples Retreat Director 2013 A Case of You Scott 2015 Prescription Thugsrowspan=2 Executive producer 2016 Term Life Director 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home William Ginter Riva 2022 A Christmas Story Christmas Ralphie Parker Also co-producer and story writer 2025 Broke Producer

Television Year Title Role Notes Ref1982 Little House on the Prairie Gideon Hale Episode: "No Beast So Fierce" Massarati and the Brain Christopher 'The Brain' Massarati TV movie Memories Never Die Shawn Tilford 1982–1984 Real People Himself (host) 1984 The Hoboken Chicken Emergency Arthur Bobowicz TV movie 1985 Who's the Boss? Bobby Walsh Episode: "Double Date" The O'BriensSon TV movie Highway to Heaven Ridley Episode: "The Monster, Part 1", "The Monster, Part 2" Punky Brewster Richmond Matzie Episode: "Christmas Shoplifting" 1986 Tall Tales & Legends Kevin Episode: "Pecos Bill" Punky Brewster Richmond Matzie Episode: "Girls Will Be Boys" The Last Frontier Marty Adamson TV movie 1987 Carly's Web Robert Krantz Jr. 1990 CBS Schoolbreak Special Joey Martelli Episode: "The Fourth Man" 1993 The Wonder Years Micky Spiegel Episodes: "Summer, Part 1", "Independence Day, Part 2" 1994 CBS Schoolbreak Special Tony Episode: "The Writing on the Wall" 1995 Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare Mark McKenna Jr. TV movie 1995–1997 Sherman Oaks Billy Baker Contract role 1999 L.A. Heat Lance Allan Episode: "Obsession" The X Show Senior field producer 2000 Who's Watching Who? Starring TV movie The New Adventures of A.R.K. 2001–2004 Dinner for Five 2003 Trigger Happy TV Field producer – final year 2008 Dinner for Five Executive producer 2012 Art of Conflictrowspan=2 Producer 2012–2014 Sullivan & Son 2013 Pursuit of the Truth Himself As judge: 1 episodeProducer: 10 episodes 2015–2021 F Is for Family Executive producer 2020Challenger: The Final FlightHimselfSpokesperson, Young Astronaut Program

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Work Result ref 1983 Young Artist Award Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film A Christmas Story 1985 Young Artist Award Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film The Dirt Bike Kid