Pat Skipper - has a reliable / repeatable process

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Premiered: December 2023

Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr. w/Gillian Anderson | The X-Files: 'Gethsemane' (1997)

Pat Skipper as Morrissey | "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (1992)

Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr. w/Shelia Larkin | The X-Files: 'Gethsemane' (1997)

Pat Skipper as Bill Scully Jr. | The X-Files: 'Gethsemane' (1997)

Pat Skipper as Defense Lawyer | "Erin Brockovich" (2000)

Pat Skipper as John Avery | "Cold Case" (2005)

Pat Skipper w/Dee Wallace, Scout Taylor-Compton | "Halloween" (2007)

Pat Skipper as Sam Delacroix | "Bosch" (2015)

Pat Skipper as Judge Mitchell Davis w/Kevin Costner | "Yellowstone" (2022)

Pat Skipper as William Randolf Hearst | "Babylon" (2022)

Pat Skipper as William Randolf Hearst w/Margo Robbie | "Babylon" (2022)

Pat Skipper is probably best known for his television work on Yellowstone, Bosch, Mad Men, Shameless, Boston Legal and The X-Files. On film, he appeared in Oppenheimer, Babylon, Den of Thieves Part 2, and in Rob Zombie’s Halloween as Mason Strode.

The only surefire way to become a working actor is to hire yourself. Pat Skipper learned this lesson the hard way. He got out of college and no one wanted to hire him. No one. He was pretty green and he sucked at auditioning. He’d get very tight and blow opportunity after opportunity. So, Pat did two things: he put himself into acting class and tried to get better, and he teamed up with some friends and started a theatre.

One of the plays he produced, along with his friends Will Cantler, Bernie Telsey, and the late Bob LuPone, was a long one-act by Alan Bowne called Beirut. They had the good luck to hire a 21-year-old Marisa Tomei to play the lead, and it became a hit. It moved to a large Off-Broadway house and eventually to Los Angeles where it ran for 6 months at the Matrix, with Marisa reprising her role opposite a young Jason Patric. Pat Skipper cast himself in the juicy walk-on part of the Guard. That’s how he became a working actor.

Due to the buzz from the play, people wanted to meet Pat. He had more confidence in his abilities. And it started to pay off. He got a small part in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street before he left New York, and within a month or two of being in LA, he was cast in a pilot for Fox called the Dirty Dozen which shot in Yugoslavia. After that, being a working actor got a whole lot easier.

Pat has guest starred in more TV shows than he can count, including Yellowstone, Bosch, Mad Men, Shameless, Justified, Bones, The West Wing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Boston Legal, NYPD Blue, ER, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Charmed, and dozens of others that no one remembers (but the checks cashed and the residual money flowed). He’s perhaps best known for playing Agent Dana Scully’s brother on The X-Files. He did a bunch of TV movies with titles like Blue-Eyed Butcher, Dying to Live, and Dancing with Danger that were a whole lot more fun to make than they were to watch. Pat was also honored to work with some of the most successful film directors in Hollywood: Christopher Nolan, Damien Chazelle, Steven Soderbergh, Rob Zombie, Christian Gudegast, Richard Donner, and John Carpenter.

Pat Skipper also coaches actors in his North Hollywood Studio (which he considers his most important work), and he continues to follow his “make your own work” philosophy. He proudly acted in short films written and produced by his students, including Blue Moon and Brotherly Blood. He was recently voted Outstanding Actor at the Nice International Film Festival for his work in We Are the Apocalypse! (written and directed by his old college roommate, Charles William Lane).

Skipper was born in 1958 in Lakeland, Florida. He was educated at Florida State University and Yale University. He is married to composer/arranger Jennifer Hammond. Their twins, Levi and Amelia, were born in 2002.

Pat Skipper's advice to the aspiring actor:

The most effective path to improving as an actor: have a reliable and repeatable process; and, get in as many repetitions as you possibly can. Just like in the gym, good reps build strength.
Every great process begins with immersion in the Given Circumstances. We appeal to our imaginations by asking questions. Who I am? Where did I grow up? Where do I work? Who do I love? Who is my partner? What will make me happy? What is my problem? Questions lead to more questions. Our imaginations guide us away from cliché and down the path towards truthful action.
Acting is play. But it’s play at a very high level. To play like Patrick Mahomes or Serena Williams requires a shit ton of practice and preparation. Once the cameras are rolling, though, we give it all up and respond truthfully to the stimulus we’re getting from our acting partners. Play like a pro.
Make your own work. Think of yourself not as an actor but as a creator. Make stuff. The only surefire way to become a working actor is to hire yourself. Never stop creating.

Representation

Talent Agent

Ellis Talent Group
4705 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Ste. 300
Valley Village, CA 91607
Phone +1 818 980 8072

Manager

DiSante Frank & Company
4400 W. Riverside Dr. Ste 377
Burbank, CA 91505
Phone 818-904-0333
Email Lisa DiSante-Frank

Business/Personal Websites

The Working Actor: A No Bullshit Approach to Winning the Acting Game
Paperback – September 21, 2015
by Pat Skipper (Author), Titus Welliver (Foreword)

Pat Skipper's Credits

Film & Television

2023Brotherly Blood (Short)
Riley

2023/I Oppenheimer
James Byrnes

2023 Perry Mason (TV Series)
Man at Business Meeting

- Chapter Fifteen (2023) ... Man at Business Meeting

2023 The Company You Keep (TV Series)
Henry Scoals

- Company Man (2023) ... Henry Scoals

2022/I Babylon
William Randolph Hearst

2022/I Blue Moon (Short)
Frank

2022 Yellowstone (TV Series)
Judge Mitchell Davis

- Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops (2022) ... Judge Mitchell Davis