Wentworth Miller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wentworth Miller | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Wentworth Earl Miller III 2 June 1972 Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Wentworth Earl Miller III (born 2 June 1972) is a Golden Globe-nominated British-born American actor who rose to stardom following his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox Network television series Prison Break.
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[edit] Life and career
[edit] Early life
Miller was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England; the son of Roxann, a special education teacher, and Wentworth Earl Miller II, a lawyer and teacher. [1] Miller's father, a Rhodes Scholar, was studying at Oxford at the time of Miller's birth. Miller has stated that his father is of African-American, Jamaican, English, German, and Jewish descent; his mother is of Russian, Dutch, French, Syrian, and Lebanese ancestry.[2][3][4]
His family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, when he was one. He retains dual citizenship.[5] He has two sisters, Leigh and Gillian. Miller attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was a member of SING!, an annual musical production that was started by Midwood. He graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature. While at Princeton, he performed with the a cappella group the Princeton Tigertones.
[edit] Career
In 1995, he went to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.[6] "It was a long time in the coming and there were a lot of upsets and a lot of failures and roadblocks,"He has stated about the rocky road to stardom, "but I couldn’t walk away from it. I needed it like I needed air, it was just something I had to do." [7]
Miller's first starring role was as the sensitive and introverted David in ABC's mini-series Dinotopia. After appearing in a few minor television roles, he moved on to co-star in the 2003 film The Human Stain, playing the younger version of the Anthony Hopkins character, Coleman Silk. He identified strongly with the core dilemma of the movie, being that of a man struggling with his heritage. “My father is black and my mother is white. Therefore, I could answer to either which kind of makes me a racial Lone Ranger, at times, caught between two communities.”[8] Miller worked extensively on the role, not only in researching Anthony Hopkins, but by embarking on a 4 month regime to accuratly portray Silk as a boxer. All in all, Miller has extremely fond memories of the experience, quoting from Toni Morrison’s novel BELOVED... “Definitions belonged to the definers - not the defined.” [9]
Miller's first TV appearance was as student-turned-sea monster Gage Petronzi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Go Fish", 1998).
In 2005, Miller was cast as Michael Scofield in Fox Network's television drama Prison Break. He plays the role of a caring brother who created an elaborate scheme to help his brother, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) escape death row after being found guilty of a crime he did not commit. His performance in the show earned him a 2005 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series.[10]
Miller appeared in two Mariah Carey music videos, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together" as a party guest. Director Brett Ratner, who directed the pilot episode of Prison Break, was signed on to also direct the two Carey videos. Ratner brought up the idea to Carey about using Miller in the videos. After showing her Miller's picture, she agreed to use him. Since both the videos and the pilot episode of Prison Break were being filmed at the same time, a special set was constructed on the set of the videos, so that Miller would be able to work simultaneously on both projects. He says, "Mariah's an international icon. The two days I spent working on her video did more for my career, gave me more exposure, than anything I'd done before Prison Break. I'm grateful for the opportunity."[11]
[edit] Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 2000 | Romeo & Juliet | Paris | |
| 2001 | Room 302 | Server #1 | Short film |
| 2003 | The Human Stain | Young Coleman Silk | Based on the novel The Human Stain (2000) by Philip Roth. |
| Underworld | Dr. Adam Lockwood | ||
| 2005 | The Confession | The Prisoner/Tom | Short film |
| Stealth | EDI | Voice | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Gage Petronzi | Season two, episode 20: "Go Fish" |
| 1999 | Time of Your Life | Nelson | Season one, episode 6: "The Time the Truth Was Told" |
| 2000 | Popular | Adam Rotchild Ryan | Season one, episode 16: "All About Adam" Season one, episode 18: "Ch-Ch-Changes" |
| Time of Your Life | Nelson | Season one, episode 11: "The Time They Got E-Rotic" | |
| ER | Mike Palmieri | Season seven, episode one: "Homecoming" | |
| 2002 | Dinotopia | David Scott | Television miniseries |
| 2005 | Joan of Arcadia | Ryan Hunter | Season two, episode 21: "Common Thread" Season two, episode 22: "Something Wicked This Way Comes" |
| Ghost Whisperer | Sgt. Paul Adams | Season one, episode one: "Pilot" | |
| 2005–2009 | Prison Break | Michael Scofield | Nominated: Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama |
[edit] References
- ^ Wentworth Miller Biography (1972-)
- ^ Paumgarten, Nick.Central Casting: The Race Card, The New Yorker, 10 November 2003. Accessed 16 June 2008.
- ^ Reider, Maxim (2008-03-13). "'Prison Break' star on furlough here". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1205261320413&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ Christopher Loudon, "Wentworth Miller's Big Break", Sir. Canada's International Magazine of Style for Him, Spring 2006, p. 61.
- ^ "BEING WENTWORTH MILLER: The star of Fox’s upcoming “Prison Break” navigates Hollywood's biracial politics.". EURWeb.com. 2005-06-27. http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur21031.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-08-05.
- ^ Dutch television program Jensen!, 10 September 2007.
- ^ Rob Owen (2007-09-16). "'Prison Break' role reversals energize Wentworth Miller". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07259/817330-237.stm. Retrieved on 2009-01-28.
- ^ http://www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php
- ^ http://www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php
- ^ "2006 Golden Globe Nominations & Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 26 January 2006. http://www.hfpa.org/nominations/year/2005. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ Wentworth Miller says he’s not gay, just shy and concentrating on career @ Flylip.com - Latest Breaking Celebrity News, Celebrity Photos And Celebrity Gossip From Around The Web. The latest celebrity news from the webs best celebrity blogs
[edit] External links
- Wentworth Miller Interviews on theTVaddict.com
- Wentworth Miller At Seat42f
- Wentworth Miller at the Internet Movie Database
- Wentworth Miller at TV.com
- Wentworth Miller's biography at Prison Break's official website
- Broadband video interview with Wentworth Miller, discussing Prison Break
- Interview with Wentworth on WHO.com
- Blog fiction with Wentworth Miller
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Miller, Wentworth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Miller, Wentworth Earl, III |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Golden Globe-nominated British-born American actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2 June 1972 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
