Wentworth Miller

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Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller, October 2008
Born Wentworth Earl Miller III
2 June 1972 (1972-06-02) (age 37)
Chipping Norton, England, UK
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.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life

Miller was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK; the son of Joy Marie Palm, 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, French, Dutch, 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] He has stated about his rocky road to stardom that "it was a long time in the coming and there were a lot of upsets and a lot of failures and roadblocks, 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 accurately 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 played 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 had done before Prison Break. I'm grateful for the opportunity."[11]


His first tv apperance after Prison Break is guest starring on the Season 11 Premiere of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. [12]


[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
2009 Prison Break: The Final Break Michael Scofield Straight to DVD
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 1: "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 1: "Pilot"
2009 "Family Guy" Jock #4/ Popular Kid #2 Season 7, Episode 13: "Stew-Roids"
2005–2009 Prison Break Michael Scofield Nominated: Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Wentworth Miller Biography (1972-)". http://www.filmreference.com/film/14/Wentworth-Miller.html. 
  2. ^ Paumgarten, Nick.Central Casting: The Race Card, The New Yorker, 10 November 2003. Accessed 16 June 2008.
  3. ^ 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. 
  4. ^ Loudon, Christopher (Spring 2006). "Wentworth Miller's Big Break". Sir. Canada's International Magazine of Style for Him. p. 61. 
  5. ^ "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. 
  6. ^ Dutch television program Jensen!, 10 September 2007.
  7. ^ 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. 
  8. ^ "www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php". http://www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php. 
  9. ^ "www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php". http://www.einsiders.com/features/interviews/wentworthmiller.php. 
  10. ^ "2006 Golden Globe Nominations & Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 26 January 2006. http://www.hfpa.org/nominations/year/2005. Retrieved on 2007-02-26. 
  11. ^ "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". http://www.flylip.com/news/story.php?id=89303&title=Wentworth+Miller+says+he%26rsquo%3Bs+not+gay%2C+just+shy+and+concentrating+on+career. 
  12. ^ http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/wentworth-miller-joins-svu-1564.html

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentworth_Miller"
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