Jessica parker journalist husband

English comedian and actor (born )

This article is about the English comedian. For other people named Ben Miller, see Ben Miller (disambiguation).

Ben Miller
Miller in December
Born	Bennet Evan Miller () 24 February (age&#;58) London, England
Occupations
Years&#;active	–present
Spouses	Jessica Parker &#; (m.&#;)&#;
Children	3
Relatives	Alan Parker (father-in-law)

Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February ) is an English comedian, actor and author.

He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. He is also known for his roles as Angus Jeremy Bough in the Johnny English film series, DI Richard Poole in the BBC crime drama series Death in Paradise and James Lester in the ITV sci-fi series Primeval.

Early life

Bennet Evan Miller was born in London on 24 February ,^[1] the son of Welsh mother Marion and English father Michael Miller.

He grew up in Nantwich, Cheshire.^{[citation needed]} His father taught American literature at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic. His maternal grandfather was a Lithuanian immigrant. His paternal grandfather was a tailor in the East End of London, while his paternal great-grandmother taught English at South Cheshire College.^[2] He has two younger sisters.^[3] He is a distant cousin of Abraham Lincoln.^[4]

Miller was educated at Malbank School and Sixth Form College in Nantwich before studying Natural Sciences at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

As an undergraduate, he participated in theatre with his then-girlfriend, actress Rachel Weisz.^[5] He remained at Cambridge to read for a PhD in solid state physics,^[6] with his proposed thesis, Novel quantum effects in low-temperature quasi-zero-dimensionalmesoscopic electron systems.^[7][8] He abandoned his thesis to pursue a career in comedy.^[7] His interest in comedy began when a friend asked him to help chauffeur the judges of the National Student Drama Festival, which was being held that year in Cambridge.^[9] Having already finished his degree, he joined the Footlights in and worked with Andy Parsons, David Wolstencroft and Sue Perkins before he directed a revue.^[10]

Career

Miller moved to London to pursue a career in comedy.^[11] He was introduced to fellow Cambridge graduate Alexander Armstrong in , at the TBA Sketch Comedy Group, a comedy club which ran at the Gate Theatre Studio, Notting Hill throughout the s.

They performed their first full-length show together at the Edinburgh Fringe in and returned in , when they were nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award.^[12]

Their success resulted in the commission of the television series Armstrong and Miller, which ran for four series from to – one on the Paramount Comedy Channel and three on Channel 4.

In , the duo also had their own radio show with the same name on BBC Radio 4, which featured many of the sketches and characters from their TV series. After a six-year break,^[13] the show was recommissioned for Hat Trick Productions as The Armstrong & Miller Show and three series have been produced.^[14] In , they also had a second radio show, Children's Hour with Armstrong and Miller.^[15]

Miller also started acting in films, starring in Steve Coogan's first feature film, The Parole Officer ().^[16] In he played the role of Bough, sidekick to Rowan Atkinson's title character, in the film Johnny English.

Ben miller and jessica parker photos The actor is married to film producer Jessica Parker, who is the daughter of Alan Parker, a musician perhaps best known for his work on music for film and TV shows.

In he co-starred in the romantic comedy The Prince and Me.

In and , he starred in two series of the BBC television series The Worst Week of My Life,^[17] with Sarah Alexander.^{[18][failed verification]} In he took part in a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life.

He starred as James Peregrine Lester in ITV's sci-fi drama Primeval^[12] and as children’s dance instructor Mr&#;Jonathan in the Australian mockumentary film Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance.^[9]

He and Alexander Armstrong formed a production company named Toff Media in The company was dissolved in ^{[citation needed]}

Miller provided the voice for the ITV Digital and later PG TipsMonkey in a popular series of television advertisements featuring Johnny Vegas.^[19] In , he appeared as television producer Jonathan Pope in Tony Jordan's series Moving Wallpaper on ITV1 and starred in Thank God You're Here.

In , Miller appeared with Rob Brydon in an episode of QI (Series&#;6.&#;9). The two have often been mistaken for each other,^[5][17] and as a joke they dressed in similar shirts for the episode and shared an on-screen kiss.^[8][20]

In , he made his directorial debut with the film Huge.

In January he presented an episode of the BBC science series Horizon titled "What is One Degree?". Later in he reprised his role as James Lester in the TV series Primeval. From November he played the role of Louis Harvey in The Ladykillers at the Gielgud Theatre.

On 23 July , Miller began touring for his book, It's Not Rocket Science, from the Royal Society in London.

He also appeared at the British Comedy Awards with Armstrong on Channel 4. In , Miller took part in an episode of Room and a Comic Relief special of game show Pointless. On 13 December , he appeared in a Christmas edition of The Celebrity Chase.

From until the series three premiere in , Miller starred in the BBC-French co-produced series Death in Paradise as Detective Inspector (DI) Richard Poole.^[21] A third series of Death in Paradise was commissioned for early ^[22] On 9 April it was announced that Miller would be departing the series,^[23] to be replaced by actor Kris Marshall.

Filming began in March , and Miller left in May after completion of the first episode, in which his character was murdered. Miller reprised his role for a cameo appearance in a dream sequence during the tenth series in

Miller explained he had personal reasons for the change: "It was the job of a lifetime, but logistically I just didn't feel I could continue.

My personal circumstances just made it too complicated, but I will miss it like a lung. I love it here."^[24] Miller's wife had discovered she was pregnant after he had begun filming the first series. Their time apart caused strains on his relationship with her and their sons, so he wanted to spend more time with his family.^[24]

In , Miller appeared in the feature film Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism.^[25] He also appeared with Billy Connolly and David Tennant in the film What We Did on Our Holiday.^[26] Miller guest starred in Doctor Who as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the third episode: "Robot of Sherwood".^[27][28]

Starring opposite Nancy Carroll and Diana Vickers,^[29] Miller played Robert Houston in the play The Duck House by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash.^[30] The show is a political satire based on the UK parliamentary expenses scandal.^[30]

In , following the th anniversary of the Magna Carta, Miller starred as King John in Series 6 of Horrible Histories.

Since October , Miller along with Ruth Jones and Will Close, appears in adverts for British supermarket Tesco as Roger with Jones as his wife Jo and Close as their son Freddie. In , Miller co-presented the ITV entertainment series It's Not Rocket Science alongside Rachel Riley and Romesh Ranganathan.

Ben miller After his first marriage to Belinda Stewart-Wilson ended in divorce, Ben Miller found love in Jessica Parker. The actor married his second wife, Parker, a production executive and the daughter of British musician Alan Parker, in September

In February Miller issued a book, accompanied by a lecture tour, entitled The Aliens are Coming!, examining the question "are we alone in the universe?"^[31] That year, Miller played the role of Murray in the six-part BBC sitcom I Want My Wife Back, starring alongside Caroline Catz.

In he appeared in the Channel 4 comedy Power Monkeys.

In he returned to the role of 'Bough', sidekick again to Rowan Atkinson's title character, in the film Johnny English Strikes Again. In September of that same year he played the role of Wolf Hall on the BBC sitcom Upstart Crow.^[32]

In November , Miller released his seventh children's book Secrets of a Christmas Elf.^[33] In , Miller acted as children's author Jullian Hartswood in the comedy drama Austin for Australian television network ABC TV, and produced by Northern Pictures and Lincoln Pictures.^[34]

Personal life

Miller dated actress Rachel Weisz while they were both studying at Cambridge University during the early s.^[5] He married actress Belinda Stewart-Wilson in , and they had a son before divorcing in He married production executive Jessica Parker, the daughter of musician Alan Parker, in September ; they have a son and daughter.^[35][36][37]

He has been diagnosed with OCD.^[38]

Despite reports to the contrary,^[18] in an interview with Roman Kemp on BBC Radio 5 Live in December , Miller said he could not play the drums and did not know where this claim came from.^[39]

Awards

Miller was awarded a Judges' Commendation for his portrayal of Hamlet at the National Student Drama Festival.^{[citation needed]} He co-wrote MindGym, winner of the first BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for comedy in , with Tim Wright and Adam Gee.

He and Armstrong won a BCA Award ^{[clarification needed]} for The Armstrong and Miller Show. In they also won a BAFTA for The Armstrong and Miller Show.^{[40][failed verification][citation needed]}

In , with the cast of Bridgerton, Miller received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.^[41]

Books

Filmography

Film

Television

Filmmaking credits

References

External links