Ten Things You Never Knew About Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller is an overnight success ten years in the making. The Ivy League scholar paid his dues with bit parts including a student-turned-sea monster in Buffy The Vampire Slayer before landing his big break playing the young Anthony Hopkins in The Human Stain. However, it was his role as brooding jailbird Michael Scofield in Prison Break that catapulted him firmly on to the TV A-list. As the US drama returns for a fourth season on Sky1 this week, we serve up a few tantalising titbits about the man behind the tattoos.

1. Wentworth was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, but his family moved to Brooklyn when he was just one year old.

2. Wentworth’s ancestry is complicated enough to put even Johnny Depp to shame - his mum is Russian, French, Syrian, Lebanese and Dutch, while his dad is African-American, Jamaican, English, German and Cherokee.

3. Speaking of ancestry, Wentworth is determined to keep the family name going strong. He is Wentworth Miller III and his dad is Wentworth Miller II, so no prizes for guessing the name he’s picked out for his future offspring.

4. Wentworth is every bit as brainy as his TV alter ego. He studied English literature at Princeton University, where he was apparently nicknamed “Stinky” because of his sarcastic attitude towards his friends. Charming!

5. When not burying his nose in a book, Wentworth sang baritone in the internationally-known all-male a cappella group Princeton Tigertones, who busked through Europe and the Middle East every summer.

6. Wentworth worked as a temp for studios, agencies and production companies before landing a role in The Human Stain. He recalls: “There were some lean years. I remember going through my CDs figuring out what I was willing to hock because I needed an extra $15 to make rent.”

7. Wentworth confesses that he receives some eye-popping fan mail but is not always able to write back. “The mail amazes me,” he says. “I sometimes get these letters that are ten pages, and handwritten, from women pouring their hearts out and, for security reasons, I can only respond with a headshot and ‘Dear so and so, be good. WM.’ It never feels like enough.”

8. Wentworth claims to be “deathly allergic” to cats - and that’s not all. He explains: “Unfortunately, I’m allergic to all animals and even some people. There was a scene where I had to give Dominic Purcell a hug - you know, a touching embrace between the brothers - and at the end of the night I had a rash on my neck. I got a lot of teasing on that.”

9. Wentworth has made no secret of the fact that he wants a wife and kids, contrary to those rumours about his sexuality. But what is the most romantic gesture he has ever made? He reveals: “This one time I had a girlfriend that was out of the country a lot. So I gave her a watch and set it to ‘my time’ so wherever we were, we’d always be on the same time. I thought that was pretty romantic.” Aww, how sweet!

10. Wentworth fancies trying his hand at a Superman villain after unsuccessfully auditioning to play the Man of Steel himself in the past. He says: “I’d definitely love a crack at General Zod. So I’m hoping that Bryan Singer makes a sequel to the Superman that’s coming out and casts me.” Since a sequel was confirmed earlier this year, we’re keeping our fingers crossed!