Mitch Pileggi

Born: April 5, 1952
Where: Portland, Oregon, USA

The actor is best known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner in the long-running popular series The X-Files.

On the big screen, he has appeared in movies ranging from Knight Rider 2000 to Return of the Living Dead - Part II.

The son of a housewife and a defence contractor, his family moved around during his youth, eventually settling in Turkey and getting involved in musicals while at high school.

A keen high school athlete (wrestling and football were his strengths) he returned to American to attend the University of Texas, in Austin, receiving a degree in business.

He went on to work in Iran as a defence contractor, until the 1979 Iranian revolution, when he and his brother fled the country, escaping to Greece.

His acting career began with small roles in B-movies and TV shows like Dallas, Married with Children, Walker, Texas Ranger and China Beach.

In the 1980s, Pileggi starred in several films including Three O'Clock High as Duke "The Duker" Herman, an over zealous high school parking lot security guard, and in Shocker as body-possessing serial killer Horace Pinker.

However, the role which made him famous was that of FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner on The X-Files.

The role was originally recurring, but the part expanded, and in 1996 he became a regular member of the cast alongside David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

Other TV work has ranged from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to Senator Dresden in The West Wing.

In 2007, he starred alongside Christopher Plummer in the drama Man in the Chair and was reunited with Scully and Mulder in The X-Files: I Want To Believe.