1. Early Life and Education
Mark Pellegrino was born on April 9, 1965, in Pasadena, California, and subsequently grew up in Van Nuys, California. He attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. During his high school years, he co-founded and served as the singer for a heavy metal band named XL, which disbanded after he completed school.
Although Pellegrino enrolled in college and achieved a perfect academic record with straight A's, he decided to drop out after just one year. His path into acting was somewhat serendipitous; he saw an advertisement for a modeling agency called John Roberts Powers, where he received free training. It was during this training that a commercial agent, Bob Hoover, recognized his talent and arranged for him to connect with an agent and acting coaches. This marked his entry into the acting world, where he later discovered the Meisner acting method. At the time, he did not initially have a dream of becoming an actor.
For a significant part of his life, Mark Pellegrino believed his biological father was Bill Pellegrino, whom his mother divorced when Mark was two years old. As an adult, Mark conducted a search on ancestry.com to explore his heritage, which revealed that his DNA did not indicate Italian ancestry. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he publicly sought assistance from fans of the TV show Supernatural on Twitter (now known as X) to help him find his real father. Within an hour of his post, his biological father, Gerry, was identified, along with the discovery that Mark has two sisters and three brothers. Gerry, his biological father, is of German descent.
2. Acting Career
Pellegrino has built an extensive career as an actor, making significant contributions across film, television, and video games. His career began in the late 1980s, and he has since become recognized for his versatility and ability to portray a wide range of characters.
2.1. Film
Pellegrino's debut film role was in 1987 as a narcotics dealer named Frankenstein in Fatal Beauty. That same year, he also appeared as a Punk in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. In 1989, he portrayed Randy Thomas in No Holds Barred and Allen Patumbo in Night Life. The 1990s saw him co-star as Bango in Prayer of the Rollerboys (1990) and play Bartholomew "Bart" Daniels in Blood and Concrete / Blood & Concrete: A Love Story (1991), where his name was misspelled as "Mark Pelligrino" in the segment "Doubletalk".
In 1992, he took on the role of Billy Phelps in Lethal Weapon 3 and The Gauntlet Fighter in Mission of Justice. The following year, 1993, he was Deputy Roy in Trouble Bound, Robert "Robbie/Rob" Patterson in Midnight Witness, and Motorcycle Cop Ted in Bank Robber. He appeared as Deputy Jimmy Sommers in F.T.W (1994) and Earl Stockman in For Life or Death / Soul of the Avenger (1996), with his name again misspelled as "Mark Pelligrino".
His later film roles include Tourist #6 in a deleted scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Dodd in The Temple of Phenomenal Things (1997), and Dan Oldum in Macon County Jail (1997). In 1998, he was the Blonde Treehorn Thug #2 in the cult classic The Big Lebowski, known for stuffing The Dude's head down a toilet, and played Professor Arthur Corvus in A Murder of Crows. The year 1999 saw him as Lipton T in Clubland (misspelled as "Matt Pellegrino"), Cal in Certain Guys, Darrow in Word of Mouth (credited as "Robert Rand"), and in Honest Injun.
In 2000, Pellegrino played Neil in House of Love (credited as "Henry Taggert"), Tripper in Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel, and Murphy "Murph" Calzone in Drowning Mona. The critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive (2001) featured him as Joe Messing, alongside roles as Jimmy Mitchelson in Say It Isn't So, and Sally Spinelli in Monsters. Other films in 2002 include The Killer Next Door / Ronnie as Keith Schwann, Mother Ghost as The Waiter (misspelled as "Mark Pellagrino"), and Treading Water as The Actor.
He played Alan Kennard in Moving Alan and Dale Hewitt in The Hunted in 2003. In 2004, he was a Convict in Spartan, Jimmy Schmidt in Twisted, and FBI Agent Johnson in National Treasure. A significant role came in 2005 as Richard Eugene "Dick" Hickock in the Academy Award-winning film Capote, and as Justin in Ellie Parker.
Later film appearances include Tom in Caffeine (2006), Kyle Flinch in The Number 23 (2007), Ron Pebble in The Coverup / The Thacker Case (2008), Graham Caswell in An American Affair (2009), John Tyler in Two:Thirteen (2009), and The Bodyguard in Disappearing In America (2009), where his name was misspelled in the opening credits. In 2011, he was Nick Burke in Joint Body / The Bandit, Doug Kendrew in Bad Meat, and played himself in Post.
In 2013, he acted as Giff in Bad Turn Worse / We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Detective Robert Welch in The Trials of Cate McCall. More recently, he was Cal Riley in Beirut (2018) and Beck in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024). He is also listed in post-production for Strangers in a Strange Land as Grungy Man.
2.2. Television
Pellegrino made his television debut in 1987 in season 2, episode 2 of L.A. Law, playing a Punk. He continued to build his resume with roles like Dude in Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), John Reynolds in Hunter (1990), and Punk in Tales from the Crypt (1990). In 1992, he appeared as Rolf Hauser in Northern Exposure and Daniel Wilson "D.W." Strong in The Hat Squad.
The mid-1990s saw him in numerous series: Joe "Joey" Lund in The Commish (1993), Skinner in the TV movie Class of '61 (1993), Yuri in the pilot episode of Viper (1994), Cletus Freed in Renegade (1994), Robert Lee in the TV movie Knight Rider 2010 (1994), Charles "Chuck" Calder in Marker (1995), and Ross Logan in Deadly Games (1995).
He played Nathan Conley in ER (1996), Ferguson in Nash Bridges (1996), Ray Weston in The Sentinel (1996), Jack in the TV movie Little Surprises (1996), and Frank Bonner in the TV movie The Cherokee Kid (1996). From 1997 to 2002, he had recurring roles as Frank Watkins, Stanley Struel, and Steve Dansick across four episodes of NYPD Blue. He was Walter, Owner of Eatery in the TV movie Born Into Exile (1997) and Robert Busch in Brimstone (1998). In 1999, he appeared as Derwood Spinks in The X-Files episode "Hungry".
In 2001, Pellegrino had a recurring role as terrorist bomber Bobby James / Robert Tibideau in three episodes of The Beast and played Bill in Thieves. He was Keith Walker in Crossing Jordan (2002) and Hollywood in the TV movie Astronauts (2002). In 2003, he played Herrick Smoltz in The Practice. He also appeared as Jed Gold and Greg Calomar across two episodes of CSI: Miami (2003, 2011). In 2004, he was Phil Pavelka in the TV movie NYPD 2069.
He had roles as Elliot Perolta and Bruno Curtis in two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005, 2009). In 2006, he played Gary Soto in The Unit and Sadik Marku, an Albanian mob boss, in two episodes of Without a Trace. Notably, in Without a Trace, he guest-starred with Mark Sheppard (who later played Crowley in Supernatural) and Rachel Miner (who played Meg Masters in Supernatural). From 2006 to 2007, Pellegrino had a recurring role as Paul Bennett in eight episodes of Dexter.
In 2007, he was Quentin King in Burn Notice, Chris in Grey's Anatomy (episode "A Change Is Gonna Come"), Sam Johannes in Women's Murder Club, Quentin in K-Ville, and Jack Lambroso in the TV movie Suspect. The year 2008 saw him as Walter "Walt" Cooperton in Knight Rider, Tim Hamer in Numb3rs (episode "Thirty-Six Hours"), Patrick Vikan in two episodes of Prison Break, and Lieutenant Evans in Criminal Minds. He also played a Fulcrum Agent and Hector in two episodes of Chuck (2008, 2012).
His impactful recurring role as the mysterious Jacob in Lost spanned seven episodes across seasons 5 and 6 (2009-2010), a character pivotal to the show's mythology. During this time, he also began his prominent and long-running role as Lucifer / Nick in Supernatural (2009-2020). He was a recurring character in seasons 5, 7, and 11, a main character in seasons 12, 13, and 14 (as Nick, Lucifer's vessel), and a special guest in season 15.
In 2009, he appeared as Mr. Drake in Fear Itself, Ben Tillman in Ghost Whisperer, Walter Kerabatsos in The Philanthropist, and Von McBride in The Mentalist. He continued to appear in various popular series in the 2010s, including Virgil Downing in Breakout Kings (2011), and Gavin Q. Baker III in a recurring role for six episodes of The Closer (2011), where he guest-starred with Curtis Armstrong as enemy lawyers. He also played Rendell Locke in the TV movie Locke & Key (2011).
From 2011 to 2014, he played James Bishop, the leader of a Boston-based vampire clan, as a main character in the first season of the SyFy horror series Being Human, and reprised the role as a recurring guest in seasons 2-4. In 2012, he was Tom Dempsey / Tom Dempsey III in Castle, Jarold Kempfer in Grimm, Max Eastman in the TV movie Hemingway & Gellhorn, Jeremy Baker in a recurring role for four episodes of Revolution, and Daniel "Danny" Drake in Person of Interest. From 2013 to 2014, he held a main role as Jedikiah Price in 22 episodes of The Tomorrow People.
In 2015, he played Jim Anderoff in Chicago P.D. and Jack Winship in a main role for The Returned. From 2015 to 2016, he was Executive Assistant Director to the FBI Clayton Haas in a recurring role for eleven episodes of the ABC thriller series Quantico. From 2017 to 2020, he had a recurring role as Deputy Bill Standall in seasons 1-3 of 13 Reasons Why, becoming a main character in season 4.
More recently, he appeared as Mitchell Trent in 9-1-1 (2021). From 2021 to 2024, he played Virgil Poe in the American Rust TV series, a show based on the novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer. In 2022, he was Walter Krebs / Logan Hess in The Rookie: Feds. In 2023, he had special guest roles as Mark Tupirik in three episodes of Class of '09 and played Nader in a main role across five episodes of Underdeveloped. He is also listed in pre-production for a series titled A Motel, for which he is also a co-executive producer.
2.3. Video Games
Pellegrino has also contributed to the world of video games through voice and motion capture performances. In 2018, he took on his first video game role as the antagonist Jacob Seed in Ubisoft's Far Cry 5. The following year, 2019, he provided additional voices as Grandmaster Adams in Anthem.
2.4. Other Performances
Outside of traditional film, television, and video game productions, Mark Pellegrino has participated in other notable performances. From 2015 to 2018, he appeared as a Dancer and Slimer in The Hillywood Show, specifically in their Supernatural Parody and Supernatural Parody 2 videos, showcasing his comedic timing and engagement with fan culture.
3. Personal Life and Views
Mark Pellegrino is married to Tracy Pellegrino. He sometimes teaches at Playhouse Paris, a Meisner training school in Paris, France, that his wife owns and operates. He has publicly stated that his favorite activity in the world is to teach, and if he were not an actor, his alternate career choice would be to teach history. He is also a stepfather to Tracy's daughter, Tess, and son, Misha.
3.1. Philosophical and Political Views
Pellegrino is an atheist. He is a devoted follower of Objectivism, a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand. Before embracing Objectivism, he identified as an environmentalist and was a registered member of the Democratic Party. He actively promotes Rand's ideas through two YouTube platforms: one is an affiliation with the Ayn Rand Centre UK, and the other is his personal account, where he hosts a series he created called Reality Checks, which features videos exploring philosophical topics related to everyday life.
He has described his political views as classical liberalism. While he acknowledged that libertarianism is the closest description of his political stance, he also views libertarianism as an anarchistic political ideology and has distanced himself from it, instead identifying as an Objectivist who recognizes the importance and place of government within society. He self-identifies as a "radical capitalist." These philosophical and political stances, while emphasizing individual liberty and economic freedom, have generated debate regarding their implications for social safety nets and collective welfare, and are viewed by some as aligning with conservative ideals concerning governmental scope.
Pellegrino is a co-founder of The American Capitalist Party. The party's core tenets include standing for reason, individual rights, limited constitutional government, and laissez-faire capitalism.
4. Awards and Nominations
Mark Pellegrino has received recognition for his acting performances throughout his career, including several significant nominations.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Capote | Nominated |
| 2010 | Saturn Awards | Best Guest Performance in a Television Series | Lost | Nominated |
| 2017 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Villain | Supernatural | Nominated |