# Silas Weir Mitchell (actor)

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 television series Prison Break (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, Pennsylvania. 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, where he majored in Theatre and Religion; and the University of California San Diego, Master of Fine Arts graduate acting program.
After graduating from Brown, he spent some time in New York City, acting in minor theatre productions.

## Career

Mitchell has had recurring guest roles in such television series as 24 as Eli Stram; Numb3rs; My Name Is Earl as Earl's ex-con friend Donny Jones; and Prison Break 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 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: Special Victims Unit, Burn Notice as charming but unstable arms dealer Seymour, Dexter, Monk, Six Feet Under, The X-Files, The Closer, 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 Fox's TV show, Mental with Chris Vance, also from Prison Break.
In October 2011, Mitchell was cast as Monroe in the NBC TV series Grimm. He portrayed Monroe throughout the series' six year run.

## Film

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | Playing Dangerous 2 | Gregor Tarnopol | |
| 1997 | Private Parts | Patient | |
| 1997 | Quicksilver Highway | Bryan Adams | TV movie |
| 1997 | Sins of the Mind | Anderson | TV movie |
| 1997 | Julian Po | Stonewall | |
| 1998 | The Patriot | Pogue | |
| 1998 | Route 9 | Agent Paul Danning | TV movie |
| 1999 | Inferno | Jesse Hogan | |
| 1999 | Absence of the Good | Jack Gaskin | TV movie |
| 2000 | Other Voices | Weeping Man | |
| 2001 | Rat Race | Lloyd | |
| 2002 | Johnson County War | Mitch Slaughter | TV movie |
| 2003 | A Painted House | Jimmy Dale | TV movie |
| 2004 | The Whole Ten Yards | Yermo | |
| 2004 | Life on Liberty Street | Derek | TV movie |
| 2005 | Heart of the Beholder | Lester | |
| 2005 | Detective | Robbins | TV movie |
| 2005 | Fathers and Sons | Max (uncredited) | |
| 2005 | McBride: Anybody Here Murder Marty? | Joseph Devine | TV movie |
| 2006 | Flags of Our Fathers | Lab Tech | |
| 2006 | The Phobic | Vladimir Narcijac | |
| 2007 | Lesser of Three Evils | Motel Manager | Also known as Fist of the Warrior |
| 2007 | The Gray Man | Albert Fish, Jr. | |
| 2007 | Crazy | Neal | |
| 2008 | 1% | Wild Man Sam | TV movie |
| 2008 | Prairie Fever | Frank | Video |
| 2009 | Halloween 2 | Chett Johns | |
| 2009 | Otis E. | Stanley | |
| 2010 | Ticket Out | Levi | |
| 2010 | A Fork in the Road | Karl Rogers | |
| 2010 | Heaven's Rain | Ake | |
| 2010 | Circle | Bennett | |
| 2018 | The Amendment | Glenn | |
| 2024 | Detained | Sullivan | |

## Shorts

| Year | Film | Role |
| 1999 | Bingo | Harry |
| 2002 | Ant | Bertrand |
| 2002 | Ethan and Alan | Ethan |
| 2009 | Waiting for Jevetta | |
| 2010 | The Killed | |
| 2010 | Sami's Cock | |

## Television

| Year | Series | Role | Episode/s |
| 1995 | Silk Stalkings | Peter Raymond Wicker | "The Lonely Hunter" |
| 1995 | The Marshal | Willy | "The New Marshal" |
| 1996 | The Big Easy | Lyle Tillman | "Big Life" |
| 1997 | Caroline in the City | Louis | "Caroline and the New Neighbor" |
| 1997 | Dark Skies | Convict | "Strangers in the Night" |
| 1997, 1998 | ER | Luis/Marcus Hainey | "Ambush" "Stuck on You" |
| 1997, 2000 | NYPD Blue | Tony/Luke | "Remembrance of Humps Past" "Everybody Plays the Mule" |
| 1998 | C-16: FBI | | "The Art of War" |
| 1998 | Vengeance Unlimited | Capt. Jesse Fisher | "Dishonorable Discharge" |
| 1999 | The X-Files | Dougie | "Agua Mala" |
| 1999 | The Pretender | Luke Carlo | "Risque Business" |
| 2000 | Other Voices | Weeping Man | |
| 2000 | The Practice | Anthony Brickman | "New Evidence" "Hammerhead Sharks" |
| 2000 | Nash Bridges | Roy McNair | "Jackpot: Part 1" "Jackpot: Part 2" |
| 2002 | The Agency | | "The Golden Hour" |
| 2002 | 24 | Eli Stram | 5 episodes |
| 2002 | Push, Nevada | Ruhk | "The Black Box" |
| 2002 | Birds of Prey | Syrus Waters (Slick) | "Slick" |
| 2002 | Boomtown | Erik Sorenson | "Coyote" |
| 2003 | Six Feet Under | Dion Corelli | "The Trap" |
| 2003, 2005 | Cold Case | James Hogan | "Sherry Darlin'" "Kensington" |
| 2004 | CSI: Miami | Ralph Durst | "Stalkerazzi" |
| 2004 | Crossing Jordan | Frank Jones/Alastair Dark | "Revealed" |
| 2005 | Medium | Deranged Husband | "A Couple of Choices" |
| 2005 | JAG | Reese Pardee | "Two Towns" |
| 2005 | CSI: NY | David Scott | "Crime and Misdemeanor" |
| 2005 | Fathers and Sons | Max (uncredited) |
| 2005 | Strong Medicine | Wade | "Paternity Test" |
| 2005 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Willie Angel | "Room Service" |
| 2005–2007 | Prison Break | Charles "Haywire" Patoshik | 13 episodes |
| 2005–2008 | My Name Is Earl | Donny Jones | 6 episodes |
| 2006 | The PTA | | "Can't Do" |
| 2006 | Monk | Drugstore Manager | "Mr. Monk and the Garbage Strike" |
| 2006 | Without a Trace | Luke Seaver | "The Things with Feathers" |
| 2007 | Lesser of Three Evils | Motel Manager | Also known as Fist of the Warrior |
| 2007 | Dexter | Ken Olson | "Dex, Lies, and Videotape" |
| 2008 | Prairie Fever | Frank | Video |
| 2008 | The Closer | Father Chris Donahue | "Tijuana Brass" |
| 2008 | The Shield | Father Morton | "Parricide" |
| 2008 | Burn Notice | Seymour | "Rough Seas" "Seek and Destroy" |
| 2009 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Owen Walters | "Liberties" |
| 2009 | Mental | Vincent Martin | "Pilot" |
| 2009 | Otis E. | Stanley | |
| 2009 | Numb3rs | Darren Drew | "Dreamland" |
| 2010 | Ticket Out | Levi | |
| 2010 | A Fork in the Road | Karl Rogers | |
| 2010 | Circle | Bennett | |
| 2010 | The Good Guys | Vic | "Little Things" |
| 2011 | The Mentalist | Arthur Coffey/Ralph Mercer | "Bloodhounds" |
| 2011–2017 | Grimm | Monroe | Main cast |
| 2020 | Paradise Lost | Boyd Suttree | Main cast |
| 2020 | S.W.A.T. | Phil Winters | Season 4, episode 10 |
| 2023 | Criminal Minds | Cyrus LeBrun | Season 16, episode 5 & 6 |
| 2024 | Law & Order: SVU | Boyd Lynch | Season 26, episode 8 |