Wentworth Miller Quotations

I revise obsessively. It's important to me to have a clean page.

My definition of cool is finding your own definition of cool and not necessarily taking your lead from what other people tell you or from what you might read from magazines or see on TV.

You only cry for help if you believe there is help to cry for.

I'm a very competitive person, but competitive with myself. I want to be the best that I can be, and if that means that I'm eventually better than everyone else, then so be it. But I don't go around comparing and contrasting myself with other actors if I can help it. It's also, I think, the key to my success.

I had a brief experience in the food industry. I was a bus boy in a Mexican restaurant in Arizona, scraping re-fried beans off people's plates. It teaches you a bit of humility and the importance of a good deodorant.

I feel extremely lucky, extremely grateful, and a little bittersweet, too.

My encounters with racism are sort of second-hand situations where I might be standing around with a group of white friends and someone makes a comment that they wouldn't make at my family reunion.

I've never read a book or attended a class on screenwriting. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I like what I've got going on naturally and want to protect that. The one question I will ask myself as I'm re-reading a script for the 60th time is, 'Am I entertained? Still?' If the answer is 'yes,' I'll assume other people will be, too.

I surrender the idea of having some kind of control over the arc of my career a lot of the time because you never know what tomorrow's going to bring.

I have very high expectations of myself. I'm a very competitive person but competitive with myself. I want to be the best that I can be and if that means that I'm eventually better than everyone else then so be it.

Growing up, I was a target. Speaking the right way, standing the right way, holding your wrist the right way. Every day was a test, and there were a thousand ways to fail, a thousand ways to betray yourself, to not live up to someone else's standards of what was accepted, of what was normal.

Confidence is at the root of so many attractive qualities, a sense of humor, a sense of style, a willingness to be who you are no matter what anyone else might think or say ...

A great book provides escapism for me. The artistry and the creativity in a story are better than any drugs.

I'm kind of a dork. I don't have much game. I'm not particularly comfortable in bars or clubs. I much prefer being home playing Scrabble, having dinner with a couple friends, going to see a movie, or losing a whole weekend to Season 14 of Law and Order or The Simpsons.

There'll be moments when I'm out in the prison yard, chatting with the cast and the crew, getting ready to shoot a scene. And then I'll remember if I were actually an inmate, I'd only be out there an hour. The other 23 hours of the day, I'd be in my cell. It's kind of a downer.

I think there's something about evil that is thoughtless and relentless and incredibly frightening because it can't be reckoned with, reasoned with or stopped.

My family put a lot of emphasis on homework, so there weren't too many comic books or video games for me, when I was growing up.

My first gig in the business was a guest star on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' so I'm neck deep in sci-fi. It's been a very good genre to me.

An actor's job is to embrace emotions and situations that in real life we spend all of our time running away from.

Entertainers are there to entertain. They aren't there to teach your children the lessons that you haven't bothered to teach them at home yourself.

Nobody's ever asked me to pay for a meal before I've eaten it, I've never been pulled over just because I was driving the wrong kind of car in the wrong kind of area at the wrong time of night.

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to all animals and even some people.

A racial community provides not only a sense of identity, that luxury of looking into another's face and seeing yourself reflected back, but a sense of security and support.

I certainly learned how to break down a text at Princeton, which helps me break down a script - or at least that's the line I feed my parents when they start wondering where all that good money went.

There's nothing the Internet can tell me about myself that I don't already know. The rest is foolishness and people killing time.

In my career as an actor, there is a catchphrase that Scofield always says often in regards to his brother, 'Have a little faith.' In my own career as an actor, there were times when I was the only one who believed in myself in the face of the odds.

I hadn't worked for a year when I had my Prison Break audition and it was the easiest audition I've ever had. I got the script on Friday, went to the audition on Monday and got the part on Tuesday. I was shooting the pilot a week later. I didn't have time to be nervous - it happened so quickly.

You're confronted with the quandary: do I grind things to a halt? Ideally you would, but I have better things to do than educate people.

My character in 'Prison Break' needs to be formidable. In reality, I'm not very tough at all.

When I got to college, acting suddenly seemed like a very risky proposition and all my friends were going to law school or med school or Wall Street.

I acted all the way up until Princeton. It was just one of my favorite extracurricular activities. Then I got to Princeton and had a really conservative vibe. All my friends were planning on law school, med school, or Wall Street, and suddenly acting seem like a really risky proposition.

There has to be a measure of faith. That's what this business is all about: trusting in something that may never show up, that you have no concrete proof of.

I'm hoping that what I am or what I'm not ethnically doesn't limit me in anyone else's eyes. I guarantee you it doesn't in mine.

I noticed that I got a better space in the line in Starbucks when I had my tattoo. People associate tattoos with a certain edge. Then I open my mouth, and something completely different comes out.

I think it's a very dangerous game to play when you assume that just because someone's an entertainer, they're automatically a role model. Entertainers are there to entertain. They aren't there to teach your children the lessons that you haven't bothered to teach them at home yourself. They're just doing their own version of entertaining.

I'm very pleased with being a part of the Bean Pole family. It's a relationship that makes sense to me. I'm very pleased to have my name associated with Bean Pole Jeans.

To be honest, I find going out pretty scary and intimidating. Got all those people checking you out, with only one purpose: hooking up. I'm quite the dork, I'd rather sit home and play Scrabble. But that doesn't get you a girl, does it?

I didn't come to Hollywood to get on magazine covers or start my Porsche collection or to enjoy that kind of lifestyle, to go to the right parties and meet the right people.

I made a decision not to work out because I'm lazy and also, the character is not a superhero. I didn't want him to be a buff guy with Jackie Chan moves because the point is he's smarter than your average Joe.

I want to aspire to something like what Denzel Washington does, which is try to find scripts written for white actors - or Jodie Foster, who reads scripts for male actors.

I wanted to be involved in TV and film in some capacity, so a compromise, because acting seemed unrealistic, and so risky, was to get into the production side. And it was a really fortunate, smart move looking back on it, because it gave me perspective on another side of the business.

I worked with the same trainer that worked with Denzel Washington in THe Hurricane. It was three months of training, five days a week, 4 to 5 hours a day. This was followed by a month of choreography.

I've never seen American Idol but I am grateful to them. That show is one of Fox's biggest moneymakers, and some of that money goes to pay for shows like Prison Break. Simon Cowell's been signing my paychecks and for that I say thanks.

They told me at the end of that test that they wanted me to be a part of this project. I walked out and had a moment of clarity where I thought, not many people will ever have this moment.

When I've had my periods of unemployment, I'll get these e-mails from my father: 'I've read that the LAPD has a reservist program. Perhaps that's something you'd be interested in taking a look at.'

Michael Scofield is someone everyone can relate to, but nobody would want to be in his shoes.

There's so much we can't express in our day-to-day interaction with people because it's considered inappropriate. And acting is all about being inappropriate.

I feel as though we're living in a time where there is very little distinction paid between the personal and the professional.

Prison has a universal fascination. It's a real-life horror story because, given the right set of circumstances, anyone could find themselves behind bars.

Acting was something I needed like air. It wasn't something I could walk away from.

It's the way the business works, you're not just an actor, you're a diplomat and a publicist and a politician, and there are certain expectations.

This role is more visible, and I grew up without a lot of that sort of modeling so I'm relieved and proud to have done this film.

Professionally speaking, the proudest moment was when I booked the 'Human Stain.' I knew it had Nicole Kidman, Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise on board, and the director Robert Benton was an academy award winner for 'Kramer vs Kramer.'

I have to laugh internally when I'm asked in interviews what nightspots I like to hit. I just don't have answers... so sometimes I make them up.

If I were to wait only for roles that clarify my racial makeup, I'd be waiting for a very, very long time.

I've been spoiled by this project. I was given the script and went in to read, realizing that this was a powerful story and one that wasn't told very often.

The mail amazes me. 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.

You have to love what you do, and you have to need it like you need air. And there's nothing else that would give me the same degree of satisfaction as acting, which is why I can't walk away from it.

I spend my weekends sleeping and watching DVDs, and eating at restaurants within a 2-block radius of my apartment.

I broke my nose in gym when a ball hit me. I took a girl to her debutante ball the next week wearing a tux and a big, honking bandage. Not the romantic night she had in mind.

Four months of preparation and about 12 hours of shooting turned into about 30 seconds of screen time.

My father is black and my mother is white. Therefore, I could answer to either, which kind of makes me a racial Lone Ranger, caught between two communities.

I've been spared to a large extent the business end of the race stick.

I've never tried writing at a coffeehouse. I just know instinctively it's not for me.

Prison Break is so far-fetched, I had to make viewers believe that Michael is capable of making the impossible possible.

I know what it takes to go from the point where someone's looking at a newspaper article, and thinking, 'Oh, this would make a great TV series,' to the point where you're actually on a set and there's a camera aimed at someone.

I think what you learn, working on a film or TV set, is how to tune certain things out. You've got 60-100 people swirling around you, each of them with a very important job to do.

I'm one of those actors who's going to have to create a space for themselves. It's very easy to be the young Tom Cruise, because Hollywood knows what to do with you. But if you're someone who's bringing someone slightly left of center to the table, you're not a sure thing.

It was just expected that I would go to college. Both my parents are teachers and they tolerated acting, but I was going to go to a school of quality or bust. Which made my downshifting back to acting afterward a little difficult.

He's great. He's a great actor, has a really interesting presence. It kind of reminds me of he has a quality that Anthony Hopkins has, he has stillness and precision in his delivery. It's really interesting.

I was looking at my CD collection every month to see what I wouldn't mind hocking to pay the rent. And I realized I needed acting like I needed air and couldn't walk away from it,

My rule is you want someone who's got both feet on the ground. An ideal girlfriend might be someone who works in the business and can understand what you're going through but is not an actor themselves - is willing to run lines with you but when you start acting crazy, they throw up their hands and take you for what you are and be accepting.

Each episode is going to have a number of puzzles for viewers to solve, and there are six or seven different subplots swirling around. It's really going to be something that rewards the attentive and patient viewer.

I value the experience I did have behind that desk because to make it in this business, you need the soul of an artist but the pulse of a bureaucrat. If you're waiting tables, waiting for your break, and you're not willing to come home every night after a long shift at the restaurant and stuff your head-shots and resumes into envelopes to send out to agents and managers, you're not going to make it. It's not going to happen for you.

... I value the experience I did have behind that desk because to make it in this business, you need the soul of an artist but the pulse of a bureaucrat. If you're waiting tables, waiting for your break, and you're not willing to come home every night after a long shift at the restaurant and stuff your head-shots and resumes into envelopes to send out to agents and managers, you're not going to make it. It's not going to happen for you.

Prison Break' is a thriller, but it's really a family drama, ... It's really the story of: How far would one go to save a loved one? And in Michael's case, it's to the wall. Each episode will be his resolve and ruthlessness and brilliance running smack into the brick wall that is chance and fate and human nature and all those things you cannot predict or prepare for.

That is very true for any walk of life and very true for my character in 'Prison Break' because he's a structural engineer. I did a little bit of reading about that. And structural engineering is the art and science of connectivity. The pieces of a building are all interdependent. My brother in the story is behind the wall and every brick in that wall represents the conspiracy that put him there. My job as his brother and as an engineer is to find that one brick and loosen it. And another and another and hopefully the whole thing will come down.

It takes about four to five hours to apply, if you've got two people working on you, ... It's a series of decals that fit together like puzzles. They're kind of more sophisticated versions of what you might find in a Cracker Jack box. You lay it down, spray it, peel it off, then seal it with glue and paint in the filler parts. It's apparently the most complicated imitation tattoo ever created, done by the art house that did all the special effects for 'The Passion of the Christ.'

The (fake) tattoo takes about four to five hours to apply, ... if you've got two people working on it.

I remember my father saying one word to me as I would walk out to school every day: 'increments.' Every test, every quiz, every conversation with the teacher, it all added up to the final grade, which would affect where you went off to college and the rest of your life. All those little bits and pieces added up to something larger,

If there was a place that was ever haunted, it would be Joliet,

All he has is his wits. He's not a superhero. He doesn't have any Jackie Chan martial-arts moves, ... And every episode, his planning and preparation and cleverness run smack into the wall of fate, chance, accident, human nature -- things you can't predict or prepare for.

You've got 150 years of fear and violence and pain soaked into those walls, but the overall mood there is one of despair.

I think it's necessary when you're dealing with a dark show that has explosion and violence to have defined moments of lightness and humor, even romance. It's important, and it deepens the character, of course.

I think ultimately that's why the audience will tune in longterm, for the characters and the relationships.

On Flash, I thought of myself as a spice character; come in, do a little dance, and I go.

I had my one guest star on The Flash, and that became several guest stars, and then they mentioned this new show.

I don't think you need to watch Arrow and Flash to appreciate what it is Legends has to offer. The beauty of this show - and they do this on Flash, and they did this on Arrow - is that we do spend time on character. We do spend time on backstory. We do take a moment in between the sci-fi special effects to tell you who these people are, so that when something happens to them, you actually care.

I have my own personal wish list.

I think that's the beauty of the current setup, is that Legends is meant to be a bit of a revolving door.

You develop a lot of scars, being interracial.

It's very much a back and forth conversation between the fans and the writers, between the writers and the powers that be. Their opinions, especially when expressed online or via correspondence, are important and are taken into consideration.

There was no script, but I said, 'I'm in, regardless' and was committed to Legends before I saw a single page.It was a lovely surprise to find so much meat on the bone.

My rule is you want someone whos got both feet on the ground. An ideal girlfriend might be someone who works in the business and can understand what youre going through but is not an actor themselves - is willing to run lines with you but when you start acting crazy, they throw up their hands and take you for what you are and be accepting.

I'd like to go back and revisit the Flash/Captain Cold relationship, because that to me has been the heart of it all along. My impression is that The Flash is a show about a boy's journey into manhood. For the Flash character, there is a variety of male models presented to him, and Captain Cold is one of them.

I'm pretty much a couch potato.

Everyone has their challenges.

You might look at my CV and see I've had 12 jobs, but I've been to over 450 auditions so I've heard 'no' a lot more than I've heard 'yes'. So if I go in looking only to meet my own standards, then that will make taking that rejection a little bit easier. And when I do get that job it will seem like icing on the cake.

I'm neither sexy nor a star.

My experience is that I find myself having to constantly define myself to others, day-in, day-out. The quote that's helped me the most through that is from Toni Morrison's “Beloved” where she says, “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined” - so I find myself defining myself for other people lest I be defined by others and stuck into some box where I don't particularly belong