Who is Mitch Pileggi?
Mitch Pileggi is an American award-winning actor, best known to the world as Walker Skinner in the eponymous TV series “The X-Files” (1994–2018), and as Samuel Campbell/Shapeshifter/Azazel in the TV series “Supernatural” (2008–2011), among numerous other roles that he’s secured over the course of his long and successful career.
Where is Mitch Pileggi from Supernatural?
Although in his late ‘60s, Mitch is still active as an actor, and most recently could have been seen in the award-winning action crime-drama series “Walker” as Bonham Walker, also starring Jared Padalecki, Molly Hagan and Keegan Allen.
Moreover, he’s currently working on the Tyler Bourns horror film “Desert Shadows,” which is currently in post-production and still without a premiere date.
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Mitch Pileggi Wiki: Age, Childhood, and Education
Mitch Pileggi was born on 5 April 1952 under the Aries zodiac sign, in Portland, Oregon, USA. Of Italian, English, Scottish and German ancestry, he’s the son of Vito Pileggi and his wife Maxine; his father, a defense contractor, moved around the world due to business needs, and the entire family moved with him. As a result, Mitch lived in California, Texas, Germany, Turkey and Iran during his childhood and adolescence.
Mitch became interested in acting while attending a high school in Turkey, and joined musical theater classes, performing in several plays. He is now fluent in the German language as he spent time in Germany as an army brat while growing up.
After a few months in Iran, he eventually returned to the US, and enrolled at the University of Texas, Austin, from where he obtained his bachelor’s degree.
The Start of His Career
He started his career with minor roles in B-movies, and the first was in the horror film “Mongrel” (1982), with Janis Dickerson, John Dodson and Terry Evans as the main stars. Next, in 1983 Mitch was selected for a minor role in the Primetime Emmy Award-winning daytime soap opera “Dallas”, and he continued with the role of Jerry Morrow in the television movie “The Sky’s No Limit” in 1984.
He worked on his portfolio throughout the decade, appearing in such projects as the television movies “Dalton: Code of Vengeance II” (1986), “Three on a Match”, “Three O’Clock High” and “Death Wish 4: The Crackdown” all in 1987), and “Brothers in Arms” in 1988, among other early roles.
He started the next decade in the same way – some of the titles in which he appeared include the TV series “Doctor Doctor” and the television film “Night Visions” in 1990, and the award-winning comedy crime film “Guilty as Charged” (1991).
In the same year, he starred in the television movie “Knight Rider 2000”, which is a sequel to the original television series “Knight Rider”, while in 1992 he made a brief appearance as an investigating police officer in the erotic thriller “Basic Instinct”, sharing the scene with Michael Douglas.
Rise to Prominence
His hard work was rewarded in 1994 when he was chosen for the role of FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner in the TV series “The X Files.” To get the role, Pileggi auditioned two or three times, and after a small cameo in the first season, his character appeared frequently in the show’s second season.
Since then, he became one of the lead characters, starring in over 90 episodes from 1994 until 2018, alongside the main stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mitch earned three joint Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in the category for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
He became an international star while working on “The X-Files”, and concurrently appeared in several other popular projects, including the TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger” and the television series “Legion of Fire: Killer Ants!” in 1998, then the film “Gun Shy” in 2000, among many other films and TV series.
After the end of the first stint of “The X Files” in 2002, Mitch continued his career as Richard Clayton in the TV action-adventure series “Tarzan”, starring Travis Fimmel, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Miguel A. Nunez Jr. After this, he starred as Colin Dowling in the short-lived drama series “The Mountain” (2004–2005), alongside Oliver Hudson, Anson Mount and Tara Thompson, while from 2005 to 2009, he was Colonel Steven Caldwell in the TV series “Stargate: Atlantis”, and from 2006 to 2007, Detective Spivak in the TV series “Day Break”.
In 2008, he reprised the role of Walter Skinner in the film “The X Files: I Want to Believe”, and in the same year appeared in the award-winning drama film “Flash of Genius”, with Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham and Alan Alda as the main stars.
Moreover, in 2008 he was selected for the part of Samuel Campbell/Azazel in the Primetime Emmy Award-nominated fantasy horror-drama series “Supernatural,” which only further contributed to his popularity.
This wasn’t the end of his acting work in 2008, as he began portraying Ernest Darby in the highly popular TV series “Sons of Anarchy”, and until 2013 he appeared in 14 episodes of the Primetime Emmy Award-nominated series.
His next prominent role came in 2012 when he started portraying Harris Ryland in the TV romantic-drama series “Dallas”, starring in 35 episodes of the acclaimed series until 2014, next to Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe and Jordana Brewster among other stars.
He then returned to “The X Files” with Duchovny and Anderson, from 2016 to 2018, after which he went on to play Rama Khan in the TV series “Supergirl” (2019–2020).
In 2021, he portrayed Prosecutor John Kelley in the drama film “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”, which follows the life of American woman Mildred Gillars, portrayed by Meadow Williams, and co-starring Al Pacino and Carsten Norgaard.
Net Worth
As of early 2022, Mitch Pileggi’s net worth has been estimated to be around $5 million, earned through his successful career as an actor, during which he’s appeared in more than 105 film and TV titles.
Personal Life: Marriage, Wife, Children
Mitch doesn’t like to share many details about his personal life, however, some information has become available to the public. He was married to Debbie Andrews from 13th December 1978 until July 2nd, 1984 – they didn’t have children.
He met his second (future) wife Arlene Warren, on the set of “The X Files,” as she was a stand-in for Gillian Anderson in 1993. The couple were married on 1 January 1997 in Hawaii, with David Duchovny was his best man. Since the wedding ceremony, the couple has welcomed daughter Sawyer Scout Pileggi, born on 24 May 1998.
Physical Appearance and Vital Statistics
The prominent actor has grey hair and brown eyes. He is 6 ft 1in (1.85m) tall, and weighs about 171 lbs (78 kg). His vital statistics are unknown, but he has an average figure.
Trivia
While in Iran, he was working as a defense contractor, a position he held until 1979. Just two weeks before the last Shah of Iran was overthrown, his company was evacuating the employees on a Pan American flight. However, instead of flying with Pan American, he booked a flight on his own behalf with Swiss Air. The flight was the last one for many days, and it was flying to Baghdad, Iraq, but a thunderstorm prevented the plane from landing, and so the pilot took them to Athens.
Until the present day, Mitch is still wondering how they got to Greece, saying that he thinks that the plane got there on fumes.
