Michael Pitt

This article is about the American actor. For the British civil servant, see Michael Pitt (civil servant).

Michael Carmen Pitt
Pitt at the 5th Rome Film Festival for Boardwalk Empire , 2010
Born	(1981-04-10) April 10, 1981 (age 43) West Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupations	Actor model musician
Years active	1997–present
Partner(s)	Asia Argento (2003–2004) Jamie Bochert (2004–2014)

Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) ^[1] is an American actor, model, and musician. In film, he has appeared in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Bully (2001), Murder by Numbers (2002), The Dreamers (2003), Last Days (2005), Silk (2007), Funny Games (2007), I Origins (2014), and Ghost in the Shell (2017). In television, he portrayed Henry Parker in the teen drama Dawson's Creek (1999–2000), Jimmy Darmody in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2011), and Mason Verger in the second season of the NBC series Hannibal (2014).

Early life

Pitt was born in West Orange, New Jersey, ^{[1] [2]} the son of Donald B. Pitt, an auto mechanic, and Eleanor Carol (née DeMaio) Pitt, a waitress. ^[3] He has two older sisters and one older brother. Pitt is of Italian and Irish heritage on his mother's side, and of English descent on his father's. By age 16, Pitt had been to three or four high schools, among them Morris Catholic High School, ^[4] and was in "special classes" before ultimately dropping out. He also did a brief stint at the Essex County Youth House, a detention center. ^[5]

Career

Pitt in 2003

Film

In 2001, Pitt earned a breakout role as Tommy Gnosis, the lover of a trans rock star named Hedwig, in the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch , an adaptation of John Cameron Mitchell's 1998 stage musical. Although not his first film role, Pitt's performance as Gnosis led to a series of supporting roles in many acclaimed and often controversial films, including Bully (2001), Murder by Numbers (2002), and the 2007 remake of Funny Games . One of Pitt's more notable roles was as the lead in The Dreamers (2003).

Pitt attributes his success in films to a combination of hard work and the presence of "a few angels in my life." ^[6] He has also stressed that he chooses roles not with the hope that they will garner commercial success or to gain notoriety but to create art, challenge the audience, and ultimately contribute to a project that he is proud of:

To be honest, I make very controversial films. The films that I've made have been very, very bold choices. As the years go by, I think my work is going to come more and more in context. The truth is that you can't take what people say too seriously. If I cared what people think about my career, I would have not done—just look at my work. Don't look at me, look at what I've done. Every movie that I've picked, from my first film on, has been considered by everyone to be "career suicide." And I have an amazing life. I have an amazing career. I work with artists. But I'm not making Spider-Man. ^[7]

In 2004, Pitt has also appeared in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things and The Village and in 2005 starred in Last Days as a rock musician "inspired" by Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain. ^[8] He performed all of the songs, which closely resembled Cobain's guitar and singing styles.

On the set of Last Days, he met Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, who had been hired by Van Sant to serve as the film's music consultant. The pair formed a close bond, with Moore writing, "[Gus] wanted me to hang out with Michael and talk about his character, and let him be in character. We ended up spending a lot of time together. My daughter Coco still relates to Michael as Blake from Last Days".

In 2006, he starred in the unconventional romantic comedy Delirious as a young homeless man who befriends a celebrity photographer and falls in love with a pop singer. The movie appeared at the Sundance Film Festival. The following year, he played opposite Keira Knightley in Silk , adapted from the novel by Alessandro Baricco, as Hervé Joncour, a French silkworm smuggler, who falls in love with a baron's concubine while in Japan.

Pitt (center) at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival with the cast and crew of I Origins

In 2014, Pitt juggled two starring roles, as Tommy Uva in the comedic American crime drama Rob the Mob and as a molecular biologist in search of the truth about the origins of the eye in the science fiction romantic drama I Origins .

In 2017, Pitt starred in the film Ghost in the Shell as the villainous hacker Kuze, alongside Scarlett Johansson. ^[9]

Theater

Pitt made his Off-Broadway debut in 1999 in the play The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at the New York Theatre Workshop. ^[5]

Television

During his theater for, a casting agent whom Pitt had mistaken for a police officer attempting to arrest him noticed him and recommended him for a role on the television series Dawson's Creek. He played Henry Parker on a recurring basis in the third season (1999–2000).

In 2010, Pitt was cast as Jimmy Darmody in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (about the rise of Atlantic City during the Prohibition era), as the protégé of corrupt politician Nucky Thompson. He appeared in the show's first two seasons and was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics's Choice Award for his performance. Pitt said of Boardwalk Empire, "I'm proud of the work we did on that show. My grandfather was an Italian-American and he met my grandmother in Atlantic City. So Jimmy Darmody spoke to me; he felt very close to home."

In 2014, he was cast in the recurring role of Mason Verger in the NBC series Hannibal ^[10] playing the role in the show's second season. He subsequently left and was replaced by Joe Anderson. ^[11]

Music

Pitt performing with Pagoda in Madrid in 2007

Pitt sang and played guitar in his band, Pagoda, whose self-titled debut album was released by Universal/Fontana/Ecstatic Peace in 2007. ^[12]

Under the title Jimi Pitt and the Twins of Evil, Pitt performed "Hey Joe" with the Twins of Evil for The Dreamers soundtrack. ^[13]

Directing

In January 2015, Pitt made his official directorial debut with a campaign film for fashion label Rag & Bone's Spring 2015 collection. The video features Pitt and prior co-stars actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey—the new face of Rag & Bone womenswear—and British actor Stephen Graham, from I Origins and Boardwalk Empire, respectively. Says Rag & Bone co-head, Marcus Wainwright, "[Pitt]'s a really talented actor and musician, and he came to us with this concept of doing a film-based campaign. We thought it was awesome and well worth trying." ^[14] Pitt has also directed a number of music videos for Pagoda.

In 2020, he revealed he had recently directed a film in Italy called Nocturnal, although there is no release date set yet. ^[15]

Modeling

Pitt has modeled for numerous designer campaigns. In 2012, he was named the face of Italian fashion house Prada and modeled their menswear line. He was also featured in two separate Rag & Bone campaigns prior to the release of his self-directed campaign—once for Fall/Winter 2013, with French actress Léa Seydoux, ^[16] and once for Fall/Winter 2014, with actress Winona Ryder. ^[17]

Personal life

Pitt had previously been engaged to Asia Argento from 2003 to 2004. ^[18] In 2009, Pitt revealed that he had been "engaged for a long time now" to model Jamie Bochert and said of her: "She's my other half." ^[5] The two ended their relationship in 2014. ^{[19] [20]}

In July 2022, Pitt was arrested and charged with assault and petty larceny after allegedly hitting another man multiple times and taking his phone. In September, Pitt was hospitalized and deemed "emotionally disturbed" after being accused of throwing items at people from the rooftop of a building. ^[21]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Hi-Life	Boy Teen
	54	Dance Student	Uncredited
1999	Even Housewives in Minnesota Have Those Daydreams	Petey
2000	Finding Forrester	John Coleridge
2001	Bully	Donny Semenec
	The Yellow Bird	Stuff
	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	Tommy Gnosis
2002	Murder by Numbers	Justin Pendleton
2003	Rhinoceros Eyes	Chep
	The Dreamers	Matthew
2004	The Village	Finton Coin
	The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things	Buddy
	Jailbait	Randy
2005	Last Days	Blake
2006	Delirious	Toby Grace
	The Hawk Is Dying	Fred
2007	Funny Games	Paul	Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Silk	Hervé Joncour
2011	Hugo	Projectionist	Uncredited
2012	Seven Psychopaths	Larry
2014	Rob the Mob	Tommy Uva
	The Smell of Us	Street Musician	Uncredited cameo
	I Origins	Ian Gray	Also executive producer
2015	Macadam Stories	John McKenzie
	The Driver	Carmen	Short film; also director and co-writer
	Criminal Activities	Zach
2016	Criminal	Jan Strook
2017	Ghost in the Shell	Kuze
2018	Detective Chinatown 2	James Springfield
2019	Run with the Hunted	Oscar
2020	The Last Days of American Crime	Kevin Cash
2023	Asphalt City	LaFontaine
	Day of the Fight	Mike Flannigan
	Reptile	Eli Phillips
TBA	You Can't Win [ citation needed ]	Jack Black	Also producer and co-writer; post-production
	Nocturnal [15]	TBA	Director

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Dellaventura	Babyface	Episode "Above Reproach"
1998	Law & Order	Andy	Episode "Carrier"
1999–2000	Dawson's Creek	Henry Parker	Recurring role (season 3)
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Harry Baker	Episode: "Prodigy"
2008	T Takes	The Guest in Room 113	Episode: "Room 113"
2010–2011	Boardwalk Empire	Jimmy Darmody	Main role (seasons 1–2) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2011–2012) Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series (2012) Nominated–Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2011) Nominated–Golden Nymph Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series (2012) Nominated–Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Supporting Actor In A Drama Series (2012)
2014	Hannibal	Mason Verger	3 episodes Nominated–EWwy Award for Best Guest Actor, Drama (2014) Nominated–Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television (2015)
2017	Animals.	Johnny (voice)	2 episodes
2021	Lisey's Story	Andrew Landon	Miniseries; recurring; 5 episodes

Music video

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2002	"What a Wonderful World"	Joey Ramone	Punk Guy

References

1. "Michael Pitt". Allmovie . Retrieved November 5, 2023.
2. via Associated Press "HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire:' A Dramatic Getaway – New Series Brings Prohibition-Era Atlantic City, N.J., to Life with Historical Accuracy, Lavish Detail" Archived 2010-09-18 at the Wayback Machine , CBS News, September 19, 2010. Accessed October 25, 2015. "Inevitably noted for his baby face, arresting blue eyes and pouty, pillowy lips, the 29-year-old West Orange, N.J., native seized on acting because, 'I liked the attention. And it kind of evolved into a craft, a skill, which was a positive thing in my life. Then I came to New York. I never really left.'"
3. Longsdorf, Amy. "Michael Pitt's 'I Origins' examines science, religion". The News Journal. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
4. ^[ dead link ]
5. "Meet Mr. Pitt and the Missus!". The New York Observer . June 2, 2009. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
6. "Michael Pitt on choosing projects off the beaten path and 'I, Origins'". torontosun. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
7. Harman, Justine (July 10, 2014). "Hot Guy/Cold Drink: Cocktails and Cross-Dressing With Michael Pitt". ELLE. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
8. Ann Hornaday (August 5, 2005). "'Last Days': Kurt Cobain in Thin Disguise". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
9. "Ghost in the Shell Movie Adds Michael Pitt as the Villain". Collider. February 5, 2016. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
10. Pitt profile in Hannibal Archived 2015-01-12 at the Wayback Machine , insidetv.ew.com, January 31, 2014; accessed April 11, 2014.
11. "Michael Pitt exits 'Hannibal,' Joe Anderson to replace him". EW.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
12. Pagoda (album)
13. Grooveshark (2012). "The Dreamers Soundtrack". Grooveshark. Archived from the original on March 29, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
14. Johnson, Noah. "Style.com". Style.com . Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
15. "Run With the Hunted: Michael Pitt On Character & Career + An Exclusive Clip". CBR. June 29, 2020. Archived from the original on July 12, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
16. Levinson, Lauren (July 15, 2013). "French Beauty Léa Seydoux and Boardwalk Empire's Michael Pitt Front Rag & Bone's Fall 2013 Ads". ELLE. Archived from the original on November 4, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
17. Holmes, Sally (August 13, 2014). "Winona Ryder Is Stunning in the New Rag & Bone Campaign". ELLE. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
18. Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo - ARGENTO WEDS XXX star ASIA ARGENTO has wed in Tuscany, Italy. The actress married director Michele Civetta on". Alamy. Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
19. Eriksson, Felicia (May 22, 2015). "BOCHERT BY MALAMUTE". ODALISQUE DIGITAL. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
20. Staff, Tish Weinstock,i-D. (February 14, 2017). "the fittest boys and girls in i-D to dream about if you're single". Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
21. Sblendorio, Peter (September 15, 2022). "'Boardwalk Empire' star Michael Pitt strapped to gurney, hospitalized after New York incident". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 16, 2022.

External links

• Michael Pitt at IMDb