Artie Nielsen

Grew up…in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1950’s. His father, Izzy Weisfelt, was of Russian Jewish heritage and taught musical composition at Temple University. Mr. Weisfelt passed on his musical talent to Artie, who grew up to be a gifted pianist and was admitted to Julliard. Instead of pursuing a music career, Artie became a cryptographer for the National Security Agency. At the height of the Cold War, he was tasked with decoding Soviet communication, and intercepting secret letters.

Living… in atop-secret location in South Dakota. While working for the NSA, Artie began to trade obscure artifacts with the Soviet Union in exchange for family members who were stuck in East Berlin. When Artie discovered that the seemingly innocent artifacts were actually dangerous weapons, he turned himself into the NSA for treason. Before he could be prosecuted, higher-ups in the NSA decided that Artie was too valuable of an asset and transferred him to a top-secret project, Warehouse 13, in South Dakota. Artie has dedicated the last 35 years to The Warehouse, and is considered the best agent the agency has ever had.

Profession… running Warehouse 13. Artie is the senior agent at Warehouse 13, an agency tasked with collecting rouge supernatural artifacts and keeping the world safe from them. It is his job to train new agents and manage the Warehouse. Artie is highly skilled at noticing patterns and being able to calculate probability. He has acquired vast knowledge on numerous subjects, which allows him to be very efficient at his job. Since the Warehouse stores all the retrieved artifacts, Artie sees the Warehouse as “America’s attic,” and describes his jobs as being the “gatherer and protector of secrets.”

Interests… cars, cookies, playing the piano, and linguistics. Artie is a serious car buff, owning a 1957 Jaguar XJ150 Cabriolet and a 1969 Chevrolet El Camino. He speaks several languages, including Russian, German, and French. While he cannot speak Latin, Artie can read it. He often shows preference to old-fashioned items, merely because they are comfortable and familiar. It is also a rare day to see Artie without his milk and cookies.

Relationship Status… single; committed only to his job. Early in his Warehouse 13 career, Artie was in a relationship that was cut brutally short by an artifact. It is because he has lost so many people in his life that Artie refuses to get close to any of his agents, and is highly secretive. A fellow co-worker, Leena, says of him, “The thing about Artie is that he’s lost a lot of people in his life. Including agents. So now he shuts everyone out. It’s a defense mechanism.”

Challenge… protecting earth from artifacts and those who try to use them. Artie’s first partner, James MacPherson, left the Warehouse because he was willing to use the artifacts for personal again. After having disappeared for over 15 years, MacPherson has come back, aiming to collect artifacts and auction them off, essentially releasing chaos-creating and evil objects back into the world. Artie and his agents have to stop him before any permanent destruction is caused.

Personality… secretive, obsessive, a bit neurotic, and trusting of his “gut” instincts. While Artie does not get close to anyone, he does try desperately to protect those around him. Part of his secretive nature is a result of having become a physical extension of the Warehouse. To protect itself the Warehouse has created a number of defenses in Artie’s mind that prevent anyone from entering the deepest part of it.