Peter Mac Nicol was born to John and Barbara Mac Nicol. He was raised in Texas with his other four siblings, he being the youngest of all. Mac Nicol wanted to become a paleontologist before shifting his interests to acting. He began his career studying at the University of Dallas and continued at University of Minnesota, where he got his first acting assignment.

It was for the “Crime of the Heart” that he won Theatre World Award.
Despite his other credits during the New York Shakespeare festival he played the main lead in “Richards II and Romeo and Juliet”.

Mac Nicol is best known among television viewers for his role in Ally Mcbeal, for which he has also got Emmy and Screen awards in the year 2001 and 1998 respectively for outstanding performance in a comedy series.

Mac Nicol is married to his wife of twenty years Marsue Mac Nicol. Who runs The Corie Williams Scholarship Fund, a non-profit foundation that provides scholarships for inner-city children in Los Angeles.

Currently he is working in Numb3rs and also in “The Spectacular Spider Man” which was aired on the CN this year during March. In addition, this year Peter has written a script entitled Salvation on Sand Mountain and is attached to the project as an executive producer and director.