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.
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
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 Knepp. 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.
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.