"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."
WENTWORTH MILLER
(It's Like That & We Belong Together)
Wentworth Earl Miller III, or better known to audiences as just Wentworth Miller, was born on June 2, 1972, in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England to parents, Joy Marie Palm, a special education teacher, and Wentworth Earl Miller II, a lawyer educator. He has two younger sisters, Gillian and Leigh. When he turned a year old, his family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. His father became an assistant district attorney over there. Wentworth retains a dual citizenship, but affirms that he has always been an American. He also comes from a very diverse background, his father is of African-American, Jamaican, English, German, Jewish and Cherokee descent, and his mother is of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese descent.
Wentworth attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, where he was a member of Sing!, an annual musical production that was started by Midwood. He later on transferred to Quaker Valley Senior High School in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. Wentworth was a straight As student in high school and was involved in the AV club and school newspaper.
After graduating from high school in 1990, he attended Princeton University. He was also a cartoonist for the school paper and a member of the A Capella group, The Princeton Tigertones, where he sang baritone. It was then that he realized he was interested in performing in front of big and small audiences. Five years later, in 1995, he graduated from Princeton with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and moved to California.
That same year, he was hired by a small company who made movies for television. About a year and a half later, he realized that he had unconsciously moved to Los Angeles to be an actor. He then decided to quit his job at the production company even after his employee at the production company had offered him another stable job position. Unfortunately for Wentworth, breaking into the industry was a tough job for him. He worked as a temp at several production companies before ending up working as a temp for his former employee's production office.
(Wentworth in Dinotopia)It wasn't too long before Wentworth started landing guest roles on show such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ER and Popular. He also starred in the Hallmark series, Dinotopia, playing the character, David Scott. These guest spots later on led to a role in the feature film, The Human Stain, which happened to be his breakthrough role, alongside Nicole Kidman and Sir Anthony Hopkins, where he played the younger version of Anthony Hopkins' character, Coleman Silk. Although the film didn't fare well in movie theaters, it was well received by viewers and critics, further catapulting Wentworth to bigger stardom.
After The Human Stain, he appeared in the movie Underworld, as Dr Adam Lockwood, opposite Kate Beckinsale and Stealth, playing the voice of EDI. He also guest-starred in the series finale of CBS' Joan of Arcadia, as Ryan Hunter, a charming-yet-sinister man who revealed to Joan that he also spoke to God. It was reported that his character would be Joan's greatest challenge, but in May, CBS decided to cancel the show, leaving fans to wonder what might have been. In 2005, Wentworth appeared in the pilot of Ghost Whisperer before eventually starring on FOX network's Prison Break.
(Wentworth in Ghost Whisperer)Wentworth plays the role of Michael Scofield, a character helping his brother, Lincoln Burrows, escape death row after being found guilty of a crime he did not commit. He stars alongside actors, Dominic Purcell, Amaury Nolasco and Robert Knepper. Prison Break became an instant hit and Wentworth secured a spot among viewers as one of the hottest up-and-coming actors around. His performance in the show earned him a Golden Globe nomination, a Saturn Award nomination, as well as three Teen Choice Award nominations.
(Wentworth in Prison Break)
The Brooklyn native also appeared in two of Mariah Carey's music videos, "It's Like That" and "We Belong Together" as Mariah's love interest. Brett Ratner, who was signed on to direct both the music videos, directed the pilot episode of Prison Break and already knew who Wentworth was. Brett then brought up the idea to the songstress about using Wentworth in the videos. After showing Mariah pictures of Wentworth, she agreed to use him and Wentworth managed to work on both the videos and Prison Break with the help of crew members who constructed a special set on the set of the videos. Wentworth even admits that the two days he spent working with Mariah, was in fact, one of his career highs - even topping anything he's ever done prior to Prison Break because it gave him so much exposure.
Wentworth describes himself as a very private person who likes to spend time just relaxing at home when he's not working. He enjoys swimming, reading, taking naps as well as going to different restaurants every week.
He has also mentioned in an interview that he is writing a screenplay in Chicago, and he enjoys spending time at The Art Institute Of Chicago because he believes that music, painting, movies and theater can all contribute to the work of an actor.
Trivia:
Graduated from Princeton with a degree in English.
Miller's father is African-American, Somalian, Jamaican, British, German and part Cherokee; his mother is Russian, French, Syrian, and Lebanese.
He is a 1990 graduate of Quaker Valley High, Miller moved to Sewickley Heights for his senior year of high school with his father, Wentworth Earl Miller II.
His mother Joy Marie Palm, is a Special Education Teacher. His dad is a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney.
His father, Wentworth Earl Miller II is a Lawyer and a graduate of Yale.
He has two younger sisters, Gillian and Leigh. Gillian is studying to get her PHD in Massachusetts and Leigh is in Law School in Virginia.
A snippet of Wentworth's guest star role on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997), "Go Fish" Season 2, (Episode 20: 5 May 1998), is used in the montage of images in the opening credits for the third season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997).
He is allergic to cats and dogs as well as certain foods.
His tattoos for the show "Prison Break" (2005) are a 4 hour make-up process.
According to the special features on the "Prison Break" (2005) DVD, he auditioned for Superman/Clark Kent when the project was still in Brett Ratner's hands.
Was one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in the world (2007).
Around the time of Dinotopia, Wentworth's parents were in the process of divorce.
Was born in the UK but he insists that he is a complete American.
His father is African-American and mother is White American.
He is named after his grandfather & dad. All three Wentworths were named after Captain Wentworth (a character in Jane Austen's book 'Persuasion'). It was his paternal great-grandmother's idea.
Personal Quotes
When I got to college, acting suddenly seemed like a very risky proposition and all my friends were going to law school or med school or Wall Street.
You might look at my CV and see I've had 12 jobs, but I've been to over 450 auditions so I've heard 'no' a lot more than I've heard 'yes'. So if I go in looking only to meet my own standards, then that will make taking that rejection a little bit easier. And when I do get that job it will seem like icing on the cake.
The show is completely preposterous. But that aside, it's a great ride.
"My experience is that I find myself having to constantly define myself to others, day-in, day-out. The quote that's helped me the most through that is from Toni Morrison's "Beloved" where she says, "Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined" - so I find myself defining myself for other people lest I be defined by others and stuck into some box where I don't particularly belong".
My father is black and my mother is white. Therefore, I could answer to either, which kind of makes me a racial Lone Ranger, caught between two communities.
"I'm kind of a dork. I don't have much game. I'm not particularly comfortable in bars or clubs. I much prefer being home playing Scrabble, having dinner with a couple friends, going to see a movie, or losing a whole weekend to Season 14 of "Law & Order" (1990) or "The Simpsons" (1989).
"I made a decision not to work out because I'm lazy and also, the character is not a superhero. I didn't want him to be a buff guy with Jackie Chan moves because the point is he's smarter than your average Joe" - on playing "Michael Scofield" with his regular physique.
When asked what character from literature he would like to play: "Well, if we can expand the definition of literature to include comic books, I'd definitely love a crack at "General Zod" from "Superman". So I'm hoping that Bryan Singer makes a sequel to the "Superman" that's coming out and casts me" (TV Guide, April 10-16,2006).
I have a little fantasy where in the last episode of the season, we slip into the prison's sewer system, up through the grate, and pop out a hatch - and we're face to face with Matthew Fox and spend season 2 on a tropical beach - jokingly linking his show, "Prison Break" (2005) to "Lost" (2004).
I don't get a chance to watch much. On DVD 'Oz,' 'Reno 911' and 'Family Guy' are definitely in the top 10. I did manage to squeeze in an entire 'Surreal Life' marathon on VH-1 one weekend. I just couldn't turn it off. I felt dirty, but in a good way. -- on what are his favorite TV shows
'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' was a terrific show and Sarah Michelle Gellar was terrific in it. It's really difficult straddling that line between drama and comedy, action and romance, sci-fi and reality and Sarah did it beautifully. -- on who he feels are underrated actors
Scoffield fights the zombies in RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
WENTWORTH MILLER IS THE NEW SPARTACUS
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