Perry Pirkanen is an American actor. He is best known for starring in the 1980 Italian horror film Cannibal Holocaust. Pirkanen, then a student at New York City's Actors Studio, was hired by director Ruggero Deodato who was looking for unknown actors to play the film's four protagonists.
So realistic was the film that shortly after it was released its director Ruggero Deodato was indicted for the actors' murder. The actors had signed contracts to stay out of the media for a year in order to fuel rumours that the film was a snuff movie. The court was only convinced that they were alive when the contracts were cancelled and the actors appeared on a television show as proof.