Peter Lewis Kingston "Pete" Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is an American musician, lyricist and Music video director, most famous for his work with the Chicago-based band Fall Out Boy. In recent years, he has hosted the MTV program FNMTV.

Wentz was born Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III, in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Dale Wentz, a high school admissions counselor, and Pete Wentz II, a lawyer. He attended New Trier High School and North Shore Country Day School, where he was an all-state soccer player. During his freshman year of high school, he began skipping school regularly and a school counselor convinced his parents to send him to boot camp to straighten him out. During this time, Wentz began writing songs as a way to vent out his frustrations. After graduating from high school in 1997, he attended DePaul University where he studied political science, dropping out one quarter shy of graduation to focus more on music.

Wentz recalled in a Rolling Stone interview that his earliest musical memory was listening to The Foundations' song "Build Me Up Buttercup" in the back of his dad's car.