Mike Wolfe

Mike Wolfe spent many years digging through old warehouses and rundown barns across America in search of hidden treasures and vintage items, a lifelong passion that turned him into one of the country's foremost foragers and star of the popular hit reality series "American Pickers" (History Channel, 2010- ). Born in Joliet, IL, Wolfe was the second of three children raised by a single mother. Growing up in a family where money was tight, he began at age four rooting through the trash, where he found prized treasures such as a box of stickers and abandoned bicycles. While riding his bike around the neighborhood, an older child reportedly offered him $5 for it, which he promptly took and began his lifelong passion as a picker. In his twenties, Wolfe was a competitive cyclist, leading him to open a bike store and repair shop in Bettendorf, IA. His years of repairing, buying, and selling vintage bikes made Wolfe realize that picking could be more than just a hobby, so he closed his shop and hit the road. For almost two decades, he traveled across the country in search of cool finds, logging in more than 60,000 miles on his cargo van. He often traveled with his childhood friend, Frank Fritz, who was also an avid picker. To share the stories of the people he met, Wolfe documented his adventures on the road that eventually became the focus of the soon-to-be hit reality series.