Mitch Pileggi was born on April 5 in 1952. He was born in Portland, Oregon in the U.S.. His father worked for a military contractor, which meant that he and his family moved all over the world. Mitch worked for the same people his father did until he left Iran in 1979. He came back to the U.S., to Texas where he worked in local theatre. This led to minor movie and television parts. He audition a few times for The X-Files before getting the part. It wasn't until he came back with more hair at the audition for Skinner, that he was successful in optaining the role.