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Wentworth Miller

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Wentworth Miller
Miller on October 27, 2008
Born
Wentworth Earl Miller III

(1972-06-02) June 2, 1972 (age 52)
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England
Alma materPrinceton University
Occupation(s)Actor, model, screenwriter, producer
Years active1998–present

Wentworth Earl Miller III (born June 2, 1972) is an English-born American actor, model, screenwriter and producer. He rose to stardom following his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox Network television series Prison Break. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 horror film Stoker.

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. Wentworth retains dual citizenship, but affirms that he has always been an American.

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

His family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, when he was a year old.[7] [8] Wentworth has two sisters, Leigh and Gillian. He attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, New York, and 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]

Career

Acting

Miller signing autographs after Prison Break in Beverly Hills, California, October 21, 2008

In 1995, Miller relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.[10] He has stated that his rocky road to stardom "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 TV appearance was as student-turned-sea monster Gage Petronzi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Go Fish", 1998).

Miller's first starring role was in 2002 as the sensitive, introverted 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 four month regimen to accurately portray Silk as a boxer.

He had a minor role in the film Underworld, playing a doctor and friend of the character Michael Corvin.

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 Miller's 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]

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]

In addition, Miller 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] He also featured in Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth film in the commercially successful Resident Evil film series based on the video game series of the same name; Miller plays Chris Redfield, one of the protagonists of the video game series.

Screenwriting

Miller wrote the screenplay for the film Stoker, as well as a prequel to Stoker, 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 then 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 only as a jumping-off point, from which the story takes a different direction.[19] Park Chan-wook directed, with stars Mia Wasikowska as the teenager, Nicole Kidman as the mother, and Matthew Goode as the uncle.[21] The film was released in 2013. Miller has also sold a screenplay for a film called "The Disappointments Room", the story reportedly also a family drama with horror elements as is "Stoker", to Voltage Pictures and Killer Films.[22] Miller is reportedly in negotiations to write the screenplay adaptation of the novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski which is set to be produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks among others.[23]

Personal life

Activism against Russia's "gay propaganda" laws

Miller publicly came out as gay in August 2013, when he posted a letter on GLAAD's website declining an invitation to attend a film festival in Russia—Saint Petersburg International Film Festival—citing the recent violent treatment of homosexuals in areas of Russia, seen as a result of enacted laws against homosexual propaganda.[24][25]

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 TV movie
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Chris Redfield
2012 The Mourning Portrait Photographer
The Loft Luke Seacord
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Chris Redfield Archive footage
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"
2013 Young Justice: Invasion Deathstroke 2x12: "True Colors", 2x13: "The Fix"
Video games
Year Game Role Notes
2010 Prison Break: The Conspiracy Michael Scofield Voice
Screenwriter
Year Film Notes
2013 Stoker also co-producer[26]

References

  1. ^ "Wentworth Miller Biography (1972-)".
  2. ^ "Prison Break interview - Wentworth Miller". Orange.net. Retrieved 2010-09-11. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ "TV Guide Interview". TV Guide. April 10–16, 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  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. Retrieved 2010-05-22. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Loudon, Christopher (Spring 2006). Wentworth Miller's Big Break. Sir. Canada's International Magazine of Style for Him. p. 61. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "On The Move: Wentworth Miller - Times Online". The Times. London. 2008-05-11.
  8. ^ "BEING WENTWORTH MILLER: The star of Fox's upcoming "Prison Break" navigates Hollywood's biracial politics". EURWeb.com. 2005-06-27. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  9. ^ "From Brooklyn to Bouncer". The Daily Princetonian. 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2010-02-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Dutch television program Jensen!, 10 September 2007.
  11. ^ Rob Owen (2007-09-16). "'Prison Break' role reversals energize Wentworth Miller". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2009-01-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "2006 Golden Globe Nominations & Winners". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. 26 January 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-02-17. 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".
  14. ^ "Wentworth Miller Photo". tv.com. 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  15. ^ "News | Wentworth Miller Joins SVU". TV Guide Magazine. 2009-06-29. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  16. ^ "'Prison Break' Star Secretly Writing Horror Scripts?".
  17. ^ "Wentworth Miller on How He Became Hollywood's Hottest Secret Screenwriter". Movieline. July 24, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2011. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  18. ^ "Black List: 2010 Best Unproduced Screenplays". moviefone.com.
  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. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  20. ^ "Wentworth Miller On Love, His Celebrity Crush". January 26, 2008. Retrieved 1 February 12, 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. ^ Kroll, Justin (June 8, 2011). "Matthew Goode in talks for 'Stoker' lead". Variety. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  22. ^ Wentworth Miller Script 'The Disappointments Room' Grabbed by Voltage Pictures and Killer Films, Jay A. Fernandez, April 13 2012
  23. ^ Wentworth Miller in Talks to Adapt the Bestselling Novel, THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, Dave Trumbore, 13 August 2012,
  24. ^ Shira, Dahvi (August 21, 2013). "Wentworth Miller Comes Out as Gay". People. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  25. ^ Malkin, Mark (August 21, 2013). "Prison Break Star Wentworth Miller Comes Out As Gay". E!. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  26. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682180/fullcredits
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