Profile: Miles Teller
A powerhouse young talent on the rise
If Miles Teller has a reputation for being cocky—cocky enough to alienate the female journalist writing him up for a cover story in Esquire, who found him to be a “dick”—it’s not entirely fair. The wise-ass grandstanding is really just a part of the bold and honest and splendidly talented package that he comes wrapped in. He was born in Pennsylvania, and his family moved around a bit, since his dad was an engineer who worked for nuclear power plants. He went to high school in Florida, was musically inclined and played baseball—even hoped to go pro—then went to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, one of the best places to study acting in the U.S. Prior to graduating, he was in a near-fatal car crash, which left him with several face and body scars. And something about that experience has informed many of his performances to date.
Right out of school, Teller got a part opposite Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010)—not bad for a feature-film debut. It’s a tale about parents whose young child was killed in an accident. Teller’s breakthrough role was in The Spectacular Now (2013), a richly romantic and melodramatic coming-of-age story that earned him and co-star Shailene Woodley a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. Teller plays a high-school senior with a drinking problem and a miserable self-image who falls for a shy and smart classmate (Woodley). Their scenes together are touching and riveting, and the Sundance award was prophetic: both he and Woodley were clearly stars in the making.
Teller followed that up with Whiplash (2014), yet another remarkable capstone for a young actor’s career, playing an aspiring jazz drummer at a music conservatory who is tormented by one of his instructors, a sadistic, Machiavellian tyrant played by J.K. Simmons, who went on to win an Oscar. Their psychological danse macabre is dizzying and sometimes painful to watch. Whiplash led Teller to big-budget franchise work (the Divergent series, with Woodley starring, and the Fantastic Four reboot) and a string of unremarkable comedies that would nevertheless highlight his sharp timing.
This year Teller rules. War Dogs, in which he and Jonah Hill play two young men recruited by the Pentagon to sell arms in Afghanistan with a $300 million contract, opens August 19 in theaters. It’s a twisted buddy comedy based on the true-life story of David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli. Then, on November 23, Teller stars in Bleed for This, another true-life story, in this instance that of boxer Vinny Pazienza, who survived a near-fatal car crash but refused to give in to his diagnosed disabilities and earned the title of world champion. Already in the can is Thank You for Your Service, a DreamWorks drama about how PTSD affects returning servicemen and women, and Teller is currently shooting Granite Mountain, about forest firefighters, which is based on an tragic incident in Prescott, Arizona, in which 19 men were killed. For Teller, at least, testing one’s mettle in life-or-death experiences seems to be his calling. He’s done it many times over, and all before he turns 30 next February!
