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, German, Jewish, and Cherokee background, and his mother is of Russian, French, Dutch, Lebanese, and Syrian ancestry.[3][4][5][6]
His family moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, when he was a year old.[7] Miller retains dual citizenship.[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'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]Filmography
| 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 |
| 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" |
| Year | Game | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Prison Break: The Conspiracy | Michael Scofield | Voice |
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Stoker | also co-producer[ |
