This actor switched careers mid-stream and became a director of film and TV in the mid-1980s. The son of TV producer Dorothea Petrie and director Daniel Petrie (and brother of screenwriter/director/producer Daniel Petrie Jr), he began his entertainment career playing small roles on "Quincy", "The Waltons" and "Three's Company" and in features such as in "The Turning Point" (1978), "H.O.T.S." (1979) and "Fort Apache, the Bronx" (1981).

At the urging of his father, Petrie attended the American Film Institute, where he made "The Expert", an award-winning student short about a day in the life of a