Silas Weir Mitchell (born Silas Weir Mitchell Neilson; September 30, 1969) is an American character actor. He is known for starring as Charles "Haywire" Patoshik 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''). Twelv ...

television series ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows ( Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield ( Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been sentenc ...

'' (2005–2007), for the recurring role of Donny Jones in '' My Name Is Earl'' (2005–2009), and as Monroe in the NBC television series '' Grimm'' (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, Ma ...

. 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) for his elementary school years; is a graduate of St. Paul's School, a college-preparatory boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, (1987); Brown University (1991) in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, where he majored in Theatre and Religion; and the University of California San Diego,

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 a ...

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 most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, 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 Heu ...

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

'' as escapee Charles "Haywire" Patoshik. On the DVD 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. Mitchell plays the role of an insane prison inmate in both ''Prison Break'' and ''My Name Is Earl''. He also appears in '' Rat Race'' (2001) as Lloyd (The Hardware Store Guy), and in '' The Whole Ten Yards'' as Yermo. One of his most notable roles is that of mentally unstable recurring character James Hogan on '' Cold Case''. Mitchell also made appearances on '' CSI: Miami'', '' CSI: NY'', '' Law & Order: SVU'', '' Burn Notice'' as charming but unstable arms dealer Seymour, '' Dexter'', ''

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 American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a cl ...

'', and '' Boomtown''. 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''. In 2009, he appeared in ''A Fork in the Road'', alongside Jaime King, and in '' Halloween 2''. Mitchell also appeared in

's TV show, ''

Mental Mental may refer to: * of or relating to the mind Films * ''Mental'' (2012 film), an Australian comedy-drama * ''Mental'' (2016 film), a Bangladeshi romantic-action movie * ''Mental'', a 2008 documentary by Kazuhiro Soda * ''Mental'', a 2014 O ...

'' with Chris Vance, also from ''

''. In October 2011, Mitchell was cast as Monroe in the NBC TV series '' Grimm''.

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