Melvin Frohike was born circa 1953 and was raised in Pontiac, Michigan. Very little is known about his childhood, save for his love of cars. We do know that he always imagined he would be someone of great importance, a real Man of Action. From a tender age, he knew that he would publish a paper that would have everyone hanging off his every word.
And a man of action he became! Not only did he help found The Lone Gunmen newpaper, but before that, he was acclaimed Tango dancer in Maimi known as "El Lobo." Giving up the Tango, he spent some time touring the country with hippies, before founding Frohike Electronics Corp, which specialized in cable pirating hardware, where, his #1 busines nemesis turned out to be none other than Richard Langly. While the two of them were forced to make nice in an effort to help Modeski, they have always had an antagonistic relationship.
Like Langly, Frohike has a fashion sense all his own. Terminally scruffy, he no longer sports the short ponytail, nor the woolen vest, but he still often makes use of the leather vest and suspenders look. If Langly's trademark is his glasses, and Byers's trademark is his suit, Frohike's signature look is his fingerless gloves.
Frohike's first appearance in The X-Files had him oggling agent Scully, snapping photos of her and referring to her as "tasty." He's never made a secret of his adoration of her, but while he might have first appeared a dirty old man, it becomes clear that he was much more than that--he has a paternal love for Mulder and even a little for Scully. When Mulder is presumed dead in "Nisei," he arrives at Scully's apartment in the early morning hours with a near-empty body of Jim Bean to talk about what a great man Mulder was. Likewise, he rescued an "inebriated" Scully from the lascivious wiles of Morris Fletcher in "Three of a Kind." He's constantly shown his compassion to Mulder and Scully whenever one of them was in danger.
First and foremost, Frohike is the Gunmen's enginering wizard. Frohike can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct any machine for any task. Some of his more notable inventions have included the Frojack (car tracking device) and motorized reverse-vicegrips for bending bars. He can peel apart the wreckage of what used to be an automobile and discover the part that doesn't belong. He's Click, Clack, and MacGuyver all rolled into one.
Absolutely the scrapper, Frohike would be quite a force to reckon with if he didn't have this habit of falling down all the time. However, he may be the only one of the three who sees no reason to put himself in needless danger. Whenever one of the other Gunmen puts himself (and the others) at risk by going too far for a story, Frohike is usually the one to pull him back.
Frohike writes the front-page sidebar for The Lone Gunman newspaper, entitled "Straight from the Man."
Braidwood was cast by William Graham as the perfect actor to play Frohike when Braidwood was working as an assistant director on the set of the X-Files. According to legend, the Graham said something to the effect of "we need him to be your typical dirty old man--like Braidwood over there." Also, he didn't particularly like Frohike's first name, and tried to shorten it to Mel during the rehersal for "The Unusual Suspects".
Although Frohike is Braidwood's acting credit, he has quite a resume for work as an assistant director in several series including "The Sentinel," "Pittsburgh," "Mercy Point," and a second unit directing job for "Millennium." Braidwood also produced the award-winning Canadian series "DaVinci's Inquest" and produced three of its episodes. He's also been credited for producing "Silence," a 1999 Sundace Film Festival film.