Wentworth Miller
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Wentworth Earl Miller III (born June 2 1972) is an English-born American actor, who achieved fame as Michael Scofield on TV's Prison Break.
Early life
Miller is multiracial, being of African American, Jamaican, English, and German Jewish descent on his father's side, and of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese descent on his mother's. He was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England where his father, a Rhodes Scholar, was studying. Miller was raised in Brooklyn, New York after his family moved back to the United States.Miller's first three years of high school was spent at Midwood High School in Brooklyn. He then transferred to Quaker Valley Senior High School, where he graduated in 1990. In 1995, he graduated from Princeton University with a degree in English. During his time at Princeton, he traveled the world performing with the school's famed a capella group, The Princeton Tigertones. Subsequently, he headed to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. He ended up spending years doing behind-the-scenes work to support himself before devoting himself seriously to auditioning for acting roles.
Career
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, Miller moved on to co-star in the film The Human Stain (2003), playing the younger version of an African American character who decides to pass for white played by Anthony Hopkins.Miller further increased his profile in 2005 when he starred in singer Mariah Carey's music videos, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together." He currently has a main role as Michael Scofield in the successful Fox Network television drama Prison Break, for which he received a 2005 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series. He is currently single, devoting his time and energy to his leading role in Prison Break.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | More information |
| 2005-present | Prison Break (TV series) | Michael Scofield | [Prison Break's official website]
|
| 2005 | Ghost Whisperer (TV series) | Sgt. Paul Adams |
|
| 2005 | Stealth | voice of EDI | |
| 2005 | Joan of Arcadia (TV Series) | Ryan Hunter |
|
| 2003 | Underworld | Dr. Adam Lockwood | |
| 2003 | The Human Stain | Young Coleman Silk | |
| 2002 | Dinotopia (TV miniseries) | David Scott | |
| 2000 | ER (TV series) | Mike Palmieri |
|
| 2000 | Popular (TV series) | Adam Rothchild Ryan |
|
| 1998 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series) | Gage Petronzi |
|
Controversy with Cornel West
In 2003, Miller was cast as Coleman Silk in The Human Stain. It was revealed that he had an intense personal connection to this mixed-race character. Not only did Miller possess the similar racial make-up, but he also caused a controversial incident during his time at Princeton for making derogatory, though misconstrued, remarks about African-Americans, much like the character in the movie.
In 1994, while he was a junior at Princeton, Miller published a cartoon in The Daily Princetonian featuring Cornel West teaching an introduction to an African-American Studies course called "Rhythm – Why None of You Have It, and How You Can Get It". The cartoon referred West, who was the Professor of African-American Studies at Princeton before being hired away by Harvard University, as "newly-purchased", an innocent academic term for newly hired that was taken as a reference to slavery. The New York Times later published the story about novelist Toni Morrison writing an angry letter to Miller. Despite his racial background, Miller was considered a campus racist. Furthermore, like Coleman Silk, Miller refrained from revealing his reasons behind his action.
After filming The Human Stain, Miller wrote a letter to West apologizing for the cartoon, but received no replies. However, West was present at the premiere of the movie. Incidentally, West was a friend of actress Anna Deveare Smith, who played Coleman Silk's mother in the film. He unexpectedly gave Miller a bear hug and presumably forgave him.
Trivia
- Recently in an interview, Wentworth mentioned that both of his eyes are the same color as many people had written and said that he had two different eye colours.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- He is allergic to both dogs and cats and to certain foods.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- He has two sisters: Gillian and Leigh, both are lawyers.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
Quotes
- "I wouldn't last long. I'd get shanked in like, five minutes." - on about being in prison during an interview with ET CANADA.
- "A great book provides escapism for me. The artistry and the creativity in a story are better than any drugs."[[Citing sources citation needed]]
- "It was never about the money. Because acting for me, at its best, you're working on a project that touches you in some way. And that allows you to touch a bunch of strangers, whether they're sitting there with you -- you're doing a play -- or they're in an audience watching you on the screen. There's a kind of thrill that comes along with that that I have not been able to find anywhere else. So even if I had to go back to temping, even if this is not the beginning of an amazing career, I would not regret making that jump."[[Citing sources citation needed]]
References
External links
- [] at TV.com
- [Wentworth Miller's biography] at Prison Break's official website
- [Wentworth Miller's interview] at AOL Television
- [Wentworth Miller's timeline]
- [Wentworth Miller 101] unofficial fansite
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