Jonny Lee Miller Biography

Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller (born 15 November 1972) is an English actor. He achieved early success with roles in the films Hackers (1995) and Trainspotting (1996), and worked steadily in film and theatre until 2008, when he starred as the series lead in two seasons of the American television series Eli Stone. He followed this up with lead roles in the Broadway play After Miss Julie and the BBC production of Emma. In February 2011, he starred in Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. He currently stars in the CBS crime drama Elementary, alongside Lucy Liu.

Early life, education and early career

Miller was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, England, the son of Anne Lee, who worked in theatre production and starred in many films (including Lost & Found), and Alan Miller, a stage actor and later a stage manager at the BBC. His maternal grandfather was actor Bernard Lee, famous for playing the character M in the first eleven James Bond films. Miller has stated that he has fond memories of being at the BBC Television Centre with his sister and watching Top of the Pops and Blue Peter being made.

He made an uncredited appearance in the BBC series Doctor Who as a child in the 1982 story Kinda. Miller was educated at Tiffin School in Kingston upon Thames where he gained his first acting experience (notably in the musical The Ragged Child, written by the school's Director of Music David Nield, and Head of Drama Frank Whately) and played in the Tiffin Swing Band. Miller left school at age 17 to pursue his acting career.

Career

After a stint in EastEnders as Jonathan Hewitt, Miller got his big break in the film Hackers (1995), co-starring with Angelina Jolie, whom he married in 1996. In 1997, Miller was involved with the creation and operation of Natural Nylon along with friends Jude Law (whom he met in the National Youth Music Theatre), Sadie Frost, Ewan McGregor, Sean Pertwee, Damon Bryant, and Bradley Adams. Natural Nylon folded in 2003. Aside from EastEnders, he has appeared on television in the BBC's modernisation of The Canterbury Tales, as Artie in The Pardoner's Tale and as Lord Byron in the BBC production Byron about the life of the poet. He worked on the U.S. television series Smith in 2006. His first appearance on US television was the 1996 miniseries Dead Man's Walk.

Shortly after Hackers, he was cast in Trainspotting as "Sick Boy". He was suggested for that role by Ewan McGregor. The accent he used in the film was so convincing that it led many people to erroneously believe he was from Scotland. Miller has said, "I had to do a lot of work," he confesses, "I read and re-read the book and I pretended to be Scottish all the time I was in Glasgow, hanging around with Scots, picking up bits and pieces on the street and in bars. Everyone's been very encouraging and Danny thinks that I've got it about right. Of course, the others are from all over Scotland and have different accents themselves, so I've tried to just pick up a general, composite accent."

In 1997, he played Billy Prior in the film adaptation of Pat Barker's World War I novel, Regeneration. In 2000, he played the role of Cameron Colley in Complicity, based on the book by Iain Banks. He costarred alongside Jude Law and Ray Winstone in the film Love, Honour and Obey as Johnny, a London street kid getting mixed up with a notorious Brit gangster. Also in 2000, he appeared as Simon Sheppard in Wes Craven's Dracula 2000. In 2005, he was considered for the role of James Bond, to replace Pierce Brosnan. The role went to Daniel Craig. The following year, Miller portrayed cyclist Graeme Obree in The Flying Scotsman. In 2007, he was selected to play the lead role in the series for ABC, called Eli Stone; the series was canceled after two seasons. The first season had been interrupted by a lengthy writers' strike.

He was considered as the third teammate to join Ben Fogle and James Cracknell in Team QinetiQ for the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race (January 2009). He participated in training for the event in Norway which was televised for a BBC2 documentary series On Thin Ice. He was not able to attend the race due to filming commitments of Eli Stone being extended for a second season. In 2009, he played Mr. Knightley in a BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. He also appeared on Broadway with Sienna Miller in a production of "After Miss Julie", his performance receiving generally excellent reviews. In early 2010, Miller was apparently in talks to portray Rick Grimes in the TV adaptation of the comic The Walking Dead, but the part went to Andrew Lincoln. Miller starred in the fifth season of Dexter as Jordan Chase, a highly popular motivational speaker who is suspected of leading a gang of serial rapists and murderers.

In March 2011, at the Royal National Theatre, he played, on alternate nights, both Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, in a stage adaptation of Frankenstein. Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle, was broadcast to cinemas worldwide as part of National Theatre Live on 17 March 2011 and additional dates throughout March and April. He appeared in Tim Burton's film Dark Shadows (2012). In February 2012, it was confirmed Miller had been cast in the CBS drama Elementary. Lucy Liu was later cast.

Personal life

Miller married actress Angelina Jolie on 28 March 1996. They separated eighteen months later and were divorced on 9 February 1999. He began dating actress/model Michele Hicks in 2006. Miller and Hicks married in Malibu, California, in July 2008. The couple has one son, Buster Timothy Miller, born in December 2008.

Miller is a supporter of Chelsea Football Club. He is a marathon runner, often supporting the charity Mencap. Miller was signed up to run their 2006 Marathon des Sables but had to drop out due to filming the movie Marathon. He ran the 2008 London Marathon in 3:01:40. He ran the 2010 New York City Marathon with his Dexter co-star Jennifer Carpenter.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Doctor Who	Kinda child	Uncredited Episode: "Kinda: Part One"
1983	Jemima Shore Investigates	Boy with dog	Episode: "A Little Bit of Wildlife"
1983	Mansfield Park	Charles Price
1990	Keeping Up Appearances	Youth	Episode: "Daisy's Toyboy"
1991	4 Play	Dennis Turnbull	Episode: "Itch"
1991	The Bill	Simon Cooper	Episode: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
1991	Inspector Morse	Student	Episode: "Greeks Bearing Gifts"
1991	Minder	Auctioneer's assistant	Episode: "Three Cons Make a Mountain"
1992	Goodbye Cruel World	Mark
1992	Between the Lines	David Ringwood	Episode: "The Only Good Copper"
1992	Casualty	Matt	Episode: "Tender Loving Care"
1992	Second Thoughts	Chas	Episode: "Short Change"
1993	Prime Suspect 3	Anthony Field
1993	The Bill	Lee Gibson	Episode: "Mighty Atoms"
1993	EastEnders	Jonathan Hewitt	2 episodes
1994	Mystery!: Cadfael	Edwin Gurney	Episode: "Monk's Hood"
2003	The Canterbury Tales	Arty	Episode: "The Pardoner's Tale"
2006	Smith	Tom	7 episodes
2008	Eli Stone	Eli Stone	26 episodes
2009	Emma	Mr. Knightley
2010	Dexter	Jordan Chase	8 episodes
2012present	Elementary	Sherlock Holmes	24 episodes

Film

Year	Title	Role
1992	Dead Romantic	Paul
1993	Bad Company	Michael Hickey
1993	Olly's Prison	Smiler
1994	Meat	Charlie Dyce
1995	Hackers	Dade Murphy
1996	Trainspotting	Sick Boy
1996	Dead Man's Walk	Woodrow F. Call
1997	Afterglow	Jeffrey Byron
1997	Regeneration	2nd Lt. Billy Prior
1999	Plunkett & Macleane	Macleane
1999	Mansfield Park	Edmund Bertram
2000	Love, Honour and Obey	Jonny
2000	Complicity	Cameron Colley
2000	Dracula 2000	Simon Sheppard
2002	The Escapist	Denis Hopkins
2003	Byron	Lord Byron
2004	Mindhunters	Lucas Harper
2004	Melinda and Melinda	Lee
2005	"?on Flux	Oren Goodchild
2006	The Flying Scotsman	Graeme Obree
2009	Endgame	Michael Young
2012	Dark Shadows	Roger Collins
2012	Byzantium	The Captain

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1993	Beautiful Thing	Ste	Bush Theatre, London
2004	Festen	Christian	Almeida Theatre, London
2005	Someone Who'll Watch Over Me	Adam	Ambassadors Theatre, London
2009	After Miss Julie	John	American Airlines Theatre, New York City
2011	Frankenstein	The Creature/Victor Frankenstein	Royal National Theatre, London

See also

• List of actors who have played Sherlock Holmes
• List of British actors and actresses
• List of people from Kingston upon Thames