Wentworth Miller

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Wentworth Miller
Born Wentworth Earl Miller III
June 2, 1972 (1972-06-02) (age 39)
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Alma mater Princeton University
Occupation Actor
Years active 1998–present

Wentworth Earl Miller III (born June 2, 1972) is an English-born American actor; model and screenwriter who rose to stardom following his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox Network television series Prison Break.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, Miller is the son of American parents Joy Marie (née Palm), a special education teacher, and Wentworth Earl Miller II, a lawyer and teacher.[1][2] Miller's father, a Rhodes Scholar, was studying at Oxford at the time of Miller's birth.

Miller is of multiracial origin: his father is of African-American, Jamaican, English and German background, and his mother is of French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese ancestry.[3][4][5][6]

His family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, when he was one year old.[7] Miller retains dual citizenship.[8] He has two sisters, Leigh and Gillian. Miller attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, New York. He was a member of SING!, an annual musical production that was started by Midwood. His family moved to Aleppo Township outside of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Quaker Valley High School, in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania in 1990. He graduated from Princeton University completing his bachelor's degree in English Literature. While at Princeton, he performed with the a cappella group the Princeton Tigertones and was first a member of the Quadrangle Club, and later the Colonial Club.[9]

[edit] Career

Wentworth Miller signing autographs after "Prison Break" in Beverly Hills, California

In 1995, Miller went to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.[10] 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."[11]

Miller's first starring role was as the sensitive, introverted and not a dinosaur David Scott 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. Miller worked extensively on the role, not only in researching Anthony Hopkins, but by embarking on a 4 month regimen to accurately portray Silk as a boxer.

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 character had a full upper body (front and back) tattoo. Covering both the front of his torso and his back, along with both arms from shoulders to wrists, the special effects for the tattoo took over four hours to apply. His performance in the show earned him a 2005 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series.[12]

He played a minor role of a doctor and friend of main character Michael Corvin in the movie Underworld.

Miller appeared in two Mariah Carey music videos, "It's Like That" as a party guest and "We Belong Together" as her love interest. Director Brett Ratner, who directed the pilot episode of Prison Break, was also signed on to direct the two Carey videos. Ratner decided to use Miller in the videos as well."[13]

Miller also guest starred on the season 11 premiere of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Nate Kendall, a detective from Precinct 24 of the NYPD.[14][15] Miller starred in Resident Evil: Afterlife as Chris Redfield, "Claire's brother and popular character from the game series".

[edit] Screenwriting

Miller wrote a screenplay for a film Stoker, as well as a prequel Uncle Charlie.[16] He used the pseudonym Ted Foulke, later explaining "I just wanted the scripts to sink or swim on their own."[17] Miller's script was voted to the 2010 "Black List" of the 10 best unproduced screenplays making the rounds in Hollywood.[18] The film is about a teenage girl who must deal with a mysterious uncle following the death of her father. Miller described it as a "horror film, a family drama and a psychological thriller."[19] Although influenced by Bram Stoker's Dracula, Miller has clarified that Stoker is not a vampire story.[19][20] Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt also influenced the film but after a jumping-off point, the story takes a different direction.[19] Park Chan-wook will direct, with Mia Wasikowska set to play the teenager, Nicole Kidman as the mother, and Matthew Goode in talks to play the uncle.[21]

[edit] Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
2001 Room 302 Server #1 Short Film
2003 The Human Stain Young Coleman Silk
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
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Chris Redfield
2011 The Mourning Portrait Photographer
2012 The Loft Luke Seacord
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Gage Petronzi 2x20: "Go Fish"
1999 Time of Your Life Nelson 1x06: "The Time the Truth Was Told"
1x11: "The Time They Got E-Rotic"
2000 Popular Adam Rothschild Ryan 1x16: "All About Adam"
1x18: "Ch-Ch-Changes"
ER Mike Palmieri 7x01: "Homecoming"
2002 Dinotopia David Scott Miniseries
2005 Joan of Arcadia Ryan Hunter 2x21: "Common Thread"
2x22: "Something Wicked This Way Comes"
Ghost Whisperer Sgt. Paul Adams 1x01: "Pilot"
2009 Family Guy Jock #4/ Popular Kid #2 7x13: "Stew-Roids"
2005–2009 Prison Break Michael Scofield Nominated: Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama
2009 Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Nate Kendall 11x01: "Unstable"
2011 House Benjamin 8x03: "Charity Case"
Video games
Year Game Role Notes
2010 Prison Break: The Conspiracy Michael Scofield Voice

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Wentworth Miller Biography (1972-)". http://www.filmreference.com/film/14/Wentworth-Miller.html. 
  2. ^ "Prison Break interview - Wentworth Miller". Orange.net. https://www.orange.net/entertainment/dvd/19544.htm?linkfrom=%3C!--linkfromvariable--%3E&link=link_1&article=entertainmentdvdprisonbreakclips. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  3. ^ Hollywood beginner passes the test
  4. ^ Paumgarten, Nick.Central Casting: The Race Card, The New Yorker, 10 November 2003. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  5. ^ Reider, Maxim (2008-03-13). "'Prison Break' star on furlough here". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=94851. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
  6. ^ Loudon, Christopher (Spring 2006). Wentworth Miller's Big Break. Sir. Canada's International Magazine of Style for Him. p. 61. 
  7. ^ "On The Move: Wentworth Miller - Times Online". The Times (London). 2008-05-11. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article3898796.ece. 
  8. ^ "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 2008-08-05. 
  9. ^ "From Brooklyn to Bouncer". The Daily Princetonian. 2005-11-10. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2005/11/10/13734/. Retrieved 2010-02-04. 
  10. ^ Dutch television program Jensen!, 10 September 2007.
  11. ^ Rob Owen (2007-09-16). "'Prison Break' role reversals energize Wentworth Miller". Pittsburgh Post-Gazettek;lk;kl;;. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07259/817330-237.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  12. ^ "2006 Golden Globe Nominations & Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 26 January 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-02-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20070217080453/http://www.hfpa.org/nominations/year/2005. Retrieved 2007-02-26. 
  13. ^ "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. 
  14. ^ "Wentworth Miller Photo". tv.com. 2009-09-03. http://www.tv.com/wentworth-miller/person/714/viewer.html?flag=1&i=210&gri=714&grti=104. Retrieved 2010-02-04. 
  15. ^ "News | Wentworth Miller Joins SVU". TV Guide Magazine. 2009-06-29. http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/news/wentworth-miller-joins-svu-1564.html. Retrieved 2010-02-04. 
  16. ^ "'Prison Break' Star Secretly Writing Horror Scripts?". http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20963. 
  17. ^ "Wentworth Miller on How He Became Hollywood’s Hottest Secret Screenwriter". Movieline. July 24, 2010. http://www.movieline.com/2010/07/wentworth-miller-comic-con-interview.php. Retrieved February 11, 2011. 
  18. ^ "Black List: 2010 Best Unproduced Screenplays". moviefone.com. http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/12/13/black-list-2010-best-unproduced-screenplays/?_r=true. 
  19. ^ a b c Radish, Christina (August 3, 2010). "SDCC 2010: Wentworth Miller Interview RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE; Plus Updates on STOKER and UNCLE CHARLIE". collider.com. http://collider.com/comic-con-wentworth-miller-interview-resident-evil-afterlife-3d-stoker-uncle-charlie/41800/. Retrieved March 8, 2011. 
  20. ^ "Wentworth Miller On Love, His Celebrity Crush". January 26, 2008. http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/who/celebrity-interviews/article/-/5922753/wentworth-miller-on-love-his-celebrity-crush/. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
  21. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 8, 2011). "Matthew Goode in talks for 'Stoker' lead". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118038262. Retrieved June 9, 2011. 

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wentworth Miller
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