Silas Weir Mitchell (born Silas Weir Mitchell Neilson; September 30, 1969) is an American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

. He is known for starring as

Charles "Haywire" Patoshik This is a list of characters in the American television series '' Prison Break''. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits. Overview : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurr ...

in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

television series ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial drama television show, television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purce ...

'' (2005–2007), for the recurring role of Donny Jones in ''

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Jaso ...

'' (2005–2009), and as Monroe in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

television series ''

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

'' (2011–2017).

Early life and education

Mitchell was born and raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He is named after an ancestor, the 19th century physician and author Silas Weir Mitchell. He attended The Montgomery County Day School (formerly in

Gladwyne, Pennsylvania Gladwyne is a suburban community in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States along the historic Philadelphia Main Line. In 2018, Gladwyne was ranked the sixth richest ZIP code (using 2015 IRS data) in the country in a ...

) for his elementary school years; is a graduate of St. Paul's School, a college-preparatory boarding school in

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

, (1987);

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

(1991) in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, where he majored in Theatre and Religion; and the

University of California San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

graduate acting program. After graduating from Brown, he spent some time in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, acting in minor theatre productions.

Career

Mitchell has had recurring guest roles in such television series as '' 24'' as Eli Stram;

Numb3rs ''Numbers'' (stylized as ''NUMB3RS'') is an American crime drama television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 23, 2005, to March 12, 2010, for six seasons and 118 episodes. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton ...

; ''

'' as Earl's ex-con friend Donny Jones; and ''

'' as escapee

. On the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

commentary for ''Prison Break'', he mentions he had previously auditioned for the roles of

Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell is a fictional character from the American television series '' Prison Break''. Played by Robert Knepper, he is part of the main group of characters in the series and is part of the Fox River Eight. After guest-starring ...

and

Lincoln Burrows Lincoln Burrows, played by Dominic Purcell, is a Character (arts), fictional character and one of the two protagonists of the United States, American television series ''Prison Break''. The plot of ''Prison Break'' revolves around Lincoln being ...

. Mitchell plays the role of an insane prison inmate in both ''Prison Break'' and ''My Name Is Earl''. He also appears in ''

Rat Race A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely. The term is ...

'' (2001) as Lloyd (The Hardware Store Guy), and in ''

The Whole Ten Yards ''The Whole Ten Yards'' is a 2004 American crime comedy film directed by Howard Deutch and starring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Kevin Pollak. It is a sequel to the 2000 film '' The Whole Nine Yards''. It was b ...

'' as Yermo. One of his most notable roles is that of mentally unstable recurring character James Hogan on ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

''. Mitchell also made appearances on ''

CSI: Miami ''CSI: Miami'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: Miami'') is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Dete ...

'', ''

CSI: NY ''CSI: NY'' (''Crime Scene Investigation: New York'', stylized as ''CSI: NY/Crime Scene Investigation'') is an American police procedural television series that ran on CBS from September 22, 2004, to February 22, 2013, for a total of nine seaso ...

'', '' Law & Order: SVU'', ''

Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, ...

'' as charming but unstable arms dealer Seymour, ''

Dexter Dexter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dexter, the main character of the American animated series ''Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003 * Dexter, a fictional character in the British Diary of a Bad Man#Main, web series ''Diar ...

'', ''

Monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

'', '' Six Feet Under'', '' X-Files'', ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an Television in the United States, American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department Chief of police#United States, deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator o ...

'', and ''

Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

''. He also appeared on the show '' CSI'' in the Season 6 episode "Room Service". In 2008, Silas made an appearance in seventh and final season of the U.S. cop show ''

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt poli ...

''. In 2009, he appeared in ''A Fork in the Road'', alongside

Jaime King Jaime King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency alread ...

, and in '' Halloween 2''. Mitchell also appeared in

's TV show, '' Mental'' with Chris Vance, also from ''

''. In October 2011, Mitchell was cast as Monroe in the

TV series ''

''.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Silas Weir 1969 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors Brown University alumni Male actors from Philadelphia University of California, San Diego alumni