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Member of the Fonda acting dynasty, Peter is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of actress Jane Fonda and father of Bridget Fonda (whose Godfather is actor Larry Hagman).

“Easy Rider” is a 1969 American road movie starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson.  It was also produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South, traveling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with the aim of achieving freedom. A box office hit with a $19 million intake, along with “Bonnie & Clyde” and “The Graduate”, “Easy Rider” helped kick-start the New Hollywood phase during the late 1960s and early 1970s in much the same way as “Pulp Fiction” did two decades later.  The film was added to the Library of Congress National Registry in 1998.  A landmark counterculture film and a "touchstone for a generation" that "captured the national imagination", “Easy Rider” explores the social landscape, issues, and tensions in the United States during the 1960s, such as the rise and fall of the hippie movement, drug use, and communal lifestyle. “Easy Rider” is legendary for its use of real drugs in its portrayal of marijuana and other substances.  The protagonists are two bike-riding drug dealers: Wyatt, nicknamed 'Captain America' (Fonda), and Billy (Hopper).  The characters' names refer to Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid.  Wyatt dresses in American flag-adorned leather, while Billy dresses in Native American-style buckskin pants and shirts and a bushman hat. Fonda has long been known for his affection for motorcycles, has broken his back twice in bike accidents and has been inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall Of Fame.

Jack Nicholson appears in one of his first starring roles in the last half of this film for which he was nominated for his first Academy Award.  The film was also nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.  The film appears at Number 88 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies and was added to the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The movie's groundbreaking soundtrack featured The Band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Steppenwolf with licensing costs of $1 million, more than the budget of the film.  Bob Dylan was asked to contribute music, but was reluctant to use his own recording of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)", so a version performed by Byrds front man Roger McGuinn was used instead.  Also, instead of writing an entirely new song for the film, Dylan simply wrote out the first verse of “Ballad of Easy Rider” and told the filmmakers, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” McGuinn completed the song and performed it in the film.

Beetles music producer Phil Spector also had a role in the film as a drug dealer named “Connection”. According to a story in the book  "The Beatles Anthology," John Lennon wrote the song "She Said, She Said" after meeting Peter at a party and listening to him go on and on about his near-death experience in which he accidentally shot himself in the chest at age ten. The song lyric "I know what it's like to be dead" is supposedly what Peter kept telling everyone. Lennon says he altered the song title and lyrics from "He Said" to "She Said" in order to hide the fact that he'd based the song on Peter.