Mike Wolfe is one of the most famous stars on History Channel. He is a producer, as well as an actor, and he is involved into the multipopular series called “American Pickers”.

The show is all about mike’s idea of possible treasure finding in abandoned places all around America. He claims that not only storages, shelters, barns and abandoned houses can be full of treasure, but can also be sold after doing a bit of work.

Early years

Mike was born in Joliet in Illinois on the date June 11th in the year 1964. Mike had a nice childhood, but it was tough sometimes because of the faith that his family suffered. He was the middle child out of the three and the small kids had only their mother, who was a single mum, to raise them. Mike said that he didn’t quite miss his father, but it was very hard to watch how his mother had to struggle sometimes. That’s why he knew that he will for sure be very successful and later on help her in life.

He was very small when he started “picking”. Mike claims that he probably began seeing value in things other people didn’t because he knew how valuable money was since his mother struggled sometimes. When he was only six years old, he noticed an old bike that his neighbour threw away. This was at a time when the family lived in Bettendorf, Iowa.

This is one of the major events if his life, believe it or not, because he decided to be a competitive bike racer and he actually had two shops meant for bikes and biking equipment only. This was before he realized that his true call was picking.

He traveled the country on his bike and with his friends and that’s how he fell in love with finding new things all around the world.

Before he started his professional career on the TV, he was first known amongst his friends as “the treasure hunter”. He would often go around the country, travel and live in various places, trying to find something of great value. He enjoyed meeting new people, trying new things out and it wasn’t a job for him, it was just a hobby that made him happy.

He had just the two of his Antique Archaeology stores which he opened up to sell such things. One was in a place called Le Claire in Iowa and the other one was in Nashville in Tennessee and the shops were pretty popular since they always had some great vintage things, one of a kind type of deals, that people wanted to have for themselves or gift to someone who is especially interested into those things. He later made merch for his shops too which was pretty popular. Soon, his career took a more professional turn.

Career development

After a long time of “picking”, as this job is called, he now has some really valuable things in his possesion. He collects various items and many people envy him for he has things that cannot be bought, not even in antique shops, they are one of a kind.

Mike is a man who deals great with money and therefore he has retail stores, made books and has some merch that people oten buy. He is now working on a sitcom that will be basically his story told in episodes. He will be the main producer and CBS already decided that they will air this show for him. He wants to let other people know how did he get into all of this and how did his life change from that moment.

His TV career or his real career, as he likes to joke, began in January of year 2010. This was the month when the famous “American Pickers” aired and soon everyone knew Mike by his name and surname. People used to know him as a cool guy that finds cool stuff or the cool guy that has some nice shops with unique things, but now he was very popular and everyone knew exactly what for since they were able to see his in his true form.

The History channel was always interested in the idea of making a show based around someone who finds various treasures all around the country, not just in storages as we have seen in the show “Storage Wars”. This is the reason why this show is even  more popular: it’s more dynamic.

The channel was absolutely shocked when the first episode went out. 3.1 million people had seen it and it was the best rated debut this channel had made in the past 3 years! Not only were they shocked, but they were finally confident about an idea and they decided to invest in it heavily.

This was very important for Mike since he is not only the co-host, but also the main producer and he gets a lot of the credit that the show gains. For sure, it is well earned. In the first season, around 5.4 million people on average watched it which is more than enough for the show to get into magazines and to become famous on social media because everyone raved about it.

It soon became the most watched cable TV show in 2010, which meant that it was more popular than American Idol. This was a huge accomplishment and the show just kept going on and on and on.

When it was in its fifth season, one would guess that the popularity had fallen a bit, but the show still had about 4.7 million people that watch it, on an average.

The whole exposure that Mike had gotten made him a great path to continue opening up his own businesses for the moment when the show stops! He actually decided to open up more of his reatil shops and therefore opened up a new store in 2011, it was the one in Nashville.

In that time, he had also bough a really beautiful house in Tennessee, in Leiper’s Fork. It was a peaceful town that he had found out about from his friend and he decided to move there with his wide and his daughter, and of course, their two dogs.

In 2012, he decided that he will do turn-overs too. This meant that he will have a specialized business in finding old stuff, refixing them and making them look great, making them functional, and then selling them. This is a very popular business since all of these things are handmade and are one-of-a-kind so many people want to have something so special in their homes.

Mike is a man with many interests and one of them is writing. He wrote a Kid Pickers piece, a book where he talked about how little children can find valuable things or find regular ones and do wonders with them. This book was actually meant to help children acknowledge the beauty of everything around them. He made a more serious book in 2011 when he wrote the “American Pickers Guide to Picking”.

He is not afraid to share his knowledge and he is very generous too. He hosts events in various hospitals, such as St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, but he also likes to raise awareness about animal abuse and shelters.

Besides all of this, he was also a helping producer at an album called Music to Pick By. He worked with Brian Ahern and he even made the tune to some songs. They weren’t sang by him because, as he claims, he cannot sing at all, but they had been adapted by a country singer called Dale Watson. This hasn’t been released yet, but soon will be.

In 2012, CBS had taken an idea that Mike had about his TV comedy set. Basically, Mike thought it would be great to set up camera’s in his shops and see what kind of people buy what kind of things because, as he claims, many people are very interesting and have some great stories to share too!

He works with Indian Motorcycle as well since he loves all kinds of motorcycles. He rides too, and this is a type of love that is originating from his early childhood since he used to bike a lot when he was a kid and he was later a racer, so he has a great grip for driving.

Personal life

Mike does not like to get his family involved on the TV, but we do know a bit about them. His wife is called Jodi and she had lived with him for a long time now. They have a daughter called Charlie and they have two dogs too! The dogs are called Ruby and Scout and they are both Australian blue heelers, which is very interesting.

Besides living in Tennessee, the couple also has another residence in the are of Le Claire. Mike is the type of guy that does not like to brag around with his money and therefore lives a pretty quiet life when he is not on the set.

Quick summary

Full name: Mike Wolfe

Date of birth: June 11th 1964

Birthplace:  Joliet, Illinois, the United States of America

Age: 54

Profession: TV star, collector, picker

Height: 183 cm

Weight: NA

Net Worth: $3.1 million