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Jonny Lee Miller, a British actor born on November 15, 1972, is best known for his role as a heroin addict in the 1996 film Trainspotting. On “Elementary,” the London native rose to prominence as super sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Miller is also well-known for his impromptu wedding to Angelina Jolie in the 1990s.
Early Years
Jonny Lee Miller was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, on November 15, 1972, to Ann Lee, a theater actress, and Alan Miller, a BBC stage manager. Bernard Lee, who played “M” in the first 11 James Bond films, was his grandfather. “My family has always been involved in theater in some capacity… That probably encouraged me, and I went on to enjoy doing school plays myself “Miller told Whatsonstage.com in an interview.
He attended the National Youth Music Theatre, where he met his future friend Jude Law. He was cast in a BBC production of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park when he was 10 years old. Miller began appearing on British television in his late teens, mostly in minor roles.
Relationship With Angelina Jolie
In 1995, the actor made his American debut in Hackers, a story about young computer renegades starring Angelina Jolie. They had chemistry on and off the set, and the co-stars eloped in Vegas in 1996. (During their wedding, Jolie wore black rubber pants and a shirt with Miller’s name inscribed in her blood.) Despite the fact that they split after only two years, they remained friends. While his marriage failed, Miller’s film career took off that year, thanks to a role in the Oscar-nominated Trainspotting as heroin addict “Sick Boy” alongside his pal Ewan McGregor. His other notable films include Dracula 2000, Woody Allen’s Melinda and Melinda, and Dark Shadows.
Transition to U.S. TV
Miller’s performance as real-life cyclist Graeme Obree in the 2006 film The Flying Scotsman earned him a Best Actor nomination at the Scottish BAFTA Awards. That same year, he landed his first starring role on American television, as part of the show Smith, about a gang of criminals. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after only three episodes. Miller got his second shot at a US prime-time series with Eli Stone in 2008, playing a legal shark whose life was turned upside down after suffering hallucinations from a brain aneurysm. In the middle of its second season, the show was canceled.
Sherlock Holmes
Miller was cast as the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary series on the CBS series “Elementary” in 2012. In this version, Holmes is a recovering addict, and his sidekick Dr. Watson (played by Lucy Liu) is a woman. The unusual twist on the story paid off, as the series became the year’s most-watched new show. After seven seasons, the show was cancelled in 2019.
‘Alice’ and ‘The Crown’
Miller starred in 2022’s Alice, alongside actress Keke Palmer and rapper Common, about an enslaved woman who escapes her secluded plantation to discover an unfamiliar world.
Miller was cast as former Tory Prime Minister John Major (nicknamed “the grey man”) in the fifth season of The Crown in 2022.
Personal Life
Miller married actress Michelle Hicks in 2008, and their son, Buster Timothy Miller, was born. In 2018, the couple divorced.
Miller is an avid runner who has completed several marathons. He ran the 2008 London Marathon in 3:01:40, just under seven minutes per mile. In May 2013, he ran an ultramarathon for Jonah’s Just Begun, a charity dedicated to finding a cure for the pediatric disease Sanfilippo syndrome. The actor learned about the organization from a cameraman on “Elementary,” who also happens to be the father of the charity’s namesake, Jonah Weishaar. “Sometimes you need to help the person next to you,” Miller explained.
