Miles Alexander Teller born February 20, 1987 is an American actor. Some of his films include The Spectacular Now, Whiplash, The Divergent Series, Bleed for This and Thank You for Your Service.
Early life
Teller was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. His mother, Merry, is a real estate agent, and his father, Michael, is a nuclear power plant engineer. He has two older sisters, Erin and Dana. His paternal grandfather was of Russian-Jewish descent, and his ancestry also includes English and Irish. He lived in Pennsylvania and Delaware before his family moved to Citrus County, Florida, when Teller was twelve. While attending Lecanto High School, he played the alto saxophone in a rock band, was a drummer for a church-youth group band, and was president of the drama club. He also played piano and guitar, and was on the baseball team, hoping to turn professional. Teller worked as a server at a restaurant called Crackers. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. In 2007, Teller was a passenger in a car that lost control at 80 mph (130 km/h) and flipped eight times. He has multiple scars on his face from the accident.
Career
Teller at the film premiere of Divergent in March 2014
Teller appeared in many short films between 2004 and 2010. After graduating from Tisch School of the Arts in 2009, he made his major film debut in Rabbit Hole (2010), after Nicole Kidman handpicked him for the role. Teller starred in the stage musical Footloose in high school, and later starred in the 2011 remake film of the same name. In 2013, he starred in 21 & Over and The Spectacular Now, opposite Shailene Woodley. In Damien Chazelle’s second film Whiplash (2014), Teller played a drummer who tries to impress his abusive jazz teacher (J. K. Simmons), which earned him nominations for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor, the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture and the BAFTA Rising Star Award. Teller received further recognition for playing Peter Hayes in Divergent (2014), and the film’s sequels, Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). He has also played Mister Fantastic in the reboot film Fantastic Four (2015), arms dealer David Packouz in War Dogs (2016), and Vinny Paz in the biopic boxer film Bleed for This (2016). In 2017, he starred in two biopic films, Only the Brave and Thank You for Your Service.
Personal life
Teller is a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Eagles. Since 2013, he has been in a relationship with model Keleigh Sperry. They were engaged at the Molori Safari lodge and the Madikwe Game Reserve on August 20, 2017, and got married on September 1, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii.