Biography for
Michael Pitt (II) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 April 1981, West Orange, New Jersey, USA

Birth Name

Michael Carmen Pitt

Height

5' 11" (1.80 m)

Trivia

He moved to New York City from West Orange, New Jersey, when he was 16 with two cents, a ball of lint, and no place to stay. He got a job as a bike messenger. He studied for a while at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was cast as Henry in "Dawson's Creek" (1998) after someone from the series saw him in the play, "The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek" at New York Theatre Workshop.

Plays guitar and sings in the band Pagoda.

Sings the song 'Hey Joe' which can be heard in The Dreamers (2003).

His favourite movie is My Own Private Idaho (1991).

He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. [2004]

He is good friends with the author, J.T. LeRoy.

Is one of the faces of "Emporio Armani".

Together with Alexis Dziena, Ryan Donowho and Bennie Slay, he is in a group of actors known as "The Eastsiders" - as they were spotted by casting director Lori Eastside - who was the female lead singer for Kid Creole and the Coconuts, a choreographer for Mick Jagger and was in Get Crazy (1983) with Lou Reed.

Some of the music he likes is early David Bowie, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Pixies, Operation Ivy, Sonic Youth, Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The White Stripes.

He shares a birthday with Mandy Moore, Haley Joel Osment, Orlando Jones, Charlie Hunnam, Steven Seagal and Chyler Leigh.

Engaged to Asia Argento for a few months. [2004]

Is the youngest of four children. He has two older sisters, Allison and Stacy, as well as an older brother.

Was ranked #9 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actors list. (2008).

Greatly admires River Phoenix.

Personal Quotes

[On his director, Bernardo Bertolucci]: There are two kinds of directors: There's the kind where two plus two equals four, and you have to help them figure it out. And then there's the kind that throws you in a room, locks the door, sets the house on fire and films it.

All these directors who do different locations forget that one room can be shot from a million different angles and a million different ways. When I direct a movie, I'm going to use that.

[On The Dreamers (2003)]: I was nervous for the sex scenes. It's tough for an American actor, because it can be looked upon very badly. It's a serious risk to take in your career. It's risky with the studios and with the American public. It's looked down upon in American culture at a serious level. It could be perceived not as work but as pornography. Every time I was nervous about it, I would remind myself that possibly I was going to be a part of something that was going to change those attitudes. I don't agree with those values at all. It's totally fine showing someone getting their head blown off in America and you can't show the human body. I think that shows something about the culture.

I think in some ways you learn more from the things you don't like than the things you do. What you want, and what you don't want.

I just do movies I like. I mean, I do movies I would want to go see.

You know, people want someone to tell them the answer. They want a friend, or a teacher, or a parent, but above all I guess they just want to know. And the truth is you can't tell them, and that's a hard thing to deal with. And it's easy to get wrapped up in the idea that this person knows, that he will tell me what I need to know, what I need to live, because he means a lot to me.

Movie stars get paid these ridiculous amounts of money, I don't know if they deserve it. But I think what they're really getting paid for is not the work but all the other stuff.

There's this double standard with nudity. You can show a woman's full anatomy, but it's threatening and uncomfortable with guys. Gay, straight, bi or whatever, these particular people who run the country are afraid to see the beauty in things that aren't necessarily what they think is right or whatever.

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