Early life

Pileggi, one of several children, was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Maxine Anna (Minor), a homemaker, and Vito Pileggi, a defense contractor. His family moved frequently because of his father's occupation, and Pileggi lived in Oregon, California, and Texas before spending most of his adolescence in Turkey.

Pileggi was a high school athlete, concentrating on wrestling and football. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, receiving a degree in business. For a while he worked in Iran as a defense contractor, until the 1979 Iranian revolution caused him and his brother to have to flee the country, escaping to Greece.

Career

Pileggi began acting while he was a high school student in Turkey, playing musical theater. After returning to Austin from Iran, he performed in local theaters, and continued his acting career with small roles in B-movies, and guest roles in television shows such as Dallas, China Beach, Code of Vengeance, and Walker, Texas Ranger.

In the 1980s, Pileggi starred in several films including Three O'Clock High as Duke "The Duker" Herman, an over zealous tough-as-nails high school parking lot security guard, and in Shocker as body-possessing serial killer Horace Pinker. Pileggi also appeared briefly in the 1992 film Basic Instinct as an investigating police officer in the interrogation scene of Michael Douglas.

His most notable role was as the FBI's Assistant Director Walter Skinner on The X-Files. The role was originally recurring, but the part expanded, and in 2001 he became a regular member of the cast. The character gradually became the most integral character besides the two leads. He remained with the show until its end in 2002. Pileggi played the character in the 1998 X-Files film and in the 2008 film The X-Files: I Want to Believe. He will also reprise the role in the 2016 miniseries.

Pileggi's later work has included starring in the short-lived TV show Tarzan and co-starring with Barbara Hershey and Oliver Hudson in the short-lived TV show The Mountain. Since 2005, he has played the recurring role of character Colonel Steven Caldwell, Commander of the Earth Battlecruiser, Daedalus, in the second and subsequent seasons of the television series Stargate Atlantis. He also appeared in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and in 2006 had a regular guest role on Day Break as Robbery/Homicide Detective Spivak. Pileggi also appeared on the show Cold Case in the episode "Offender", as a father accused of molesting and murdering his own son, who then threatens to murder one child sex offender per day until the case is reopened and solved. Pileggi also played the role of Larry Jennings, chairman of the board of the hospital, in Grey's Anatomy, and of Red Forman's friend Bull in an episode of That '70s Show.

Pileggi appeared in two episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as DEA agent Jack Hammond. Since 2008, Pileggi has played Ernest Darby, the head of a white supremacist gang called the "Nordics", in the critically acclaimed FX drama Sons of Anarchy . He also played spree killer Norman Hill (AKA The Road Warrior) on a season four episode of Criminal Minds, titled "Normal". Pileggi has also done some voice acting. His voice was featured as the githzerai Dak'kon in the video game Planescape: Torment. He voices Commissioner James Gordon on the new Kids WB! animated show The Batman. Pileggi also hosted the controversial FOX specials Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed and Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?. He also played the recurring role of Sam and Dean Winchester's maternal grandfather, Samuel Campbell, in the TV series Supernatural.

As of 2012, Pileggi starring as Harris Ryland in TNT drama series Dallas as Harris Ryland, Brenda Strong's ex-husband. He was promoted to series regular as of second season.

As of 2014, Pileggi is on the advisory board of Sci-Fest, the first annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival, to be held in May 2014.

Personal life

Pileggi's first marriage was to Debbie Andrews; the couple were married from 1978 to 1983. In 1996, he married his second wife, Arlene Warren. They have one daughter, Sawyer, born May 24, 1998. Warren and Pileggi were originally introduced to each other by David Duchovny, who was later the best man at their Hawaii wedding. Warren had worked on the set of The X-Files as a stand-in for Gillian Anderson. Later on in the run of the series, Warren was featured as Skinner's secretary, also named Arlene. Besides acting he also spends most of his time horse riding and playing guitar.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Three O'Clock High	Duke Herman
1987	Death Wish 4: The Crackdown	Cannery Lab Foreman
1988	Return of the Living Dead Part II	Sarge
1989	Shocker	Horace Pinker
1991	Guilty as Charged	Dominique
1992	Basic Instinct	Internal Affairs Investigator
1994	Dangerous Touch	Vince
1994	It's Pat	Concert Guard #2
1995	Vampire in Brooklyn	Tony the Hitman	Uncredited
1998	The X-Files: Fight the Future	Walter Skinner
1998	Legion of Fire: Killer Ants!	Police Chief Jeff Croy
2000	Gun Shy	Dexter Helvenshaw
2007	Man in the Chair	Floyd
2008	The X-Files: I Want to Believe	Walter Skinner
2008	Flash of Genius	Macklin Tyler
2010	Woodshop	Miller
2015	The Girl In The Photographs	Sheriff Porter

Television

Year(s)	Title	Role	Notes
1983-1990	Dallas	Morrisey	4 episodes
1984	The Sky's No Limit	Jerry Morrow	Television film
1985	The A-Team	Paul Winkle	1 episode: "The Road to Hope"
1987	Falcon Crest	Saunder's Henchman #2	2 episodes
1987	Downtown	Nick	1 episode: "1.13"
1987	Hooperman	Large Biker	1 episode: "Baby Talk"
1987	Ohara	Webster	1 episode: "Hot Rocks"
1989	Dragnet	Bridgewater Hamilton	1 episode: "Where's Sadie?"
1989	Alien Nation	John Paul Sartre	1 episode: "The Night of the Screams"
1989	China Beach	E.O.D. Sergeant	1 episode: "With a Little Help from My Friends"
1989	Falcon Crest	Eddie	1 episode: "God of the Grape"
1990	Mancuso, FBI	Prisoner	1 episode: "Death and Taxes"
1990	Hunter	Chuck Danko	1 episode: "The Incident"
1990	Doctor Doctor	Coach	1 episode: "Ice Follies"
1991	Knight Rider 2000	Thomas Watts	Television film
1991	Paradise	Rafe	1 episode: "The Valley of Death"
1991	The Antagonists	Detective Haley	1 episode: "Full Disclosure"
1991	Drexell's Class	Ex-Boyfriend	1 episode: "Bully for Otis"
1992	Get a Life	Nax	1 episode: "Chris' Brain Starts Working"
1992	Roc	White Officer	1 episode: "Roc Works for Joey"
1994-2016	The X-Files	Walter Skinner	Series regular, 85 episodes Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
1995	Pointman	Benny Dirkson	1 episode: "My Momma's Back"
1995	Models Inc.	The Hit Man	1 episode: "Sometimes a Great Commotion"
1997	Players	Jake Morgan	1 episode: "Contact Sport"
1997-2002	Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed	Host	5 episodes
1998	Walker, Texas Ranger	Paul Grady	1 episode: "Money Talks"
1999	That '70s Show	Bull	1 episode: "The Good Son"
2000	ER	Terry Waters	1 episode: "Viable Options"
2000	Batman Beyond	Dr. Stanton	1 episode: "Payback"
2001	The Lone Gunmen	Walter Skinner	2 episodes
2002	Dharma & Greg	Himself	1 episode: "The Tooth Is Out There"
2002	In Search Of... (TV series)	Himself	Host, 8 episodes
2002	Birds of Prey	Al Hawke	1 episode: "Nature of the Beast"
2003	Tarzan	Richard Clayton	Series regular, 9 episodes
2003-2005	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	DEA Agent Jack Hammond	2 episodes
2004-2005	The Mountain	Colin Dowling	13 episodes
2005	Eyes	Robert Sutherland	1 episode: "Whereabouts"
2005	The West Wing	Senator Dresden	1 episode: "Mr. Frost"
2005	Nip/Tuck	Dr. Russell Marcus	1 episode: "Sal Perri"
2005-2007	The Batman	Commissioner James Gordon	Series regular, 13 episodes
2005-2009	Stargate Atlantis	Colonel Steven Caldwell	22 episodes
2006	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Happy Harry Desmond	1 episode: "Daddy's Little Girl"
2006-2007	Day Break	Detective Spivak	Series regular, 12 episodes
2007	Cold Case	Mitch Hathaway	1 episode: "Offender"
2007	Boston Legal	U.S. Attorney Mark Freestone	1 episode: "Guantanamo by the Bay"
2007	Reaper	Detective Dan Stafford	1 episode: "The Cop"
2007-2010	Grey's Anatomy	Larry Jennings	9 episodes
2008	Brothers & Sisters	Browne Carter	3 episodes
2008	Criminal Minds	Norman Hill	1 episode: "Normal"
2008	Recount	Bill Daley	TV movie
2008-2013	Sons of Anarchy	Ernest Darby	14 episodes
2008	Supernatural	Samuel Campbell/Azazel	8 episodes
2008-2009	Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed	Narrator	13 episodes
2009	In Plain Sight	Al Dennison	1 episode: "Rubble with a Cause"
2009-2010	Medium	Dan Burroughs	4 episodes
2010-2011	Supernatural	Samuel Campbell	7 episodes
2010	Human Target	Leonard Kreese	1 episode: "Lockdown"
2010	Castle	Hans Brauer	1 episode: "A Deadly Game"
2011	Leverage	Colin Saunders	1 episode: "The Hot Potato Job"
2012	The Finder	Eddie Ross	1 episode: "Bullets"
2012-2014	Dallas	Harris Ryland	Series regular
2015	Blue Bloods	Donald DeCarlo	1 episode: "Sins Of The Father"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]