Miles Alexander Teller (born February 20, 1987) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut with the independent drama Rabbit Hole in 2010 and gained recognition for his starring role in the 2013 coming-of-age film The Spectacular Now and the Divergent film trilogy (2014–2016), both opposite Shailene Woodley. His starring role in the 2014 drama Whiplash served as his breakthrough and earned him praise. He went on to star in the superhero film Fantastic Four (2015) and the biographical film War Dogs (2016). In 2022, Teller gained wider success for starring in the action film Top Gun: Maverick. On television, he has starred in the Amazon Prime Video crime drama Too Old to Die Young (2019) and the Paramount+ miniseries The Offer (2022). Early life Teller was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania to parents Merry, a real estate agent, and Michael, a nuclear power plant engineer. He has two older sisters, Erin and Dana. His paternal grandfather was of Russian Jewish descent, and his ancestry also includes English and Irish forebears. Teller spent his early years in Pennsylvania and Delaware before his family moved to Citrus County, Florida, at age twelve. Growing up, he was involved with acting, was president of his high school's drama club, and played alto saxophone, drums, piano and guitar. He also played baseball competitively and had dreams of turning professional. He graduated from Lecanto High School in Lecanto, Florida. Subsequently, he attended the New York University Tisch School of the Arts; there, he studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and screen acting with Stonestreet Studios. He earned a BFA in drama in 2009. In 2007, Teller was a passenger in a car that lost control at and flipped eight times. He has multiple scars on his face from the crash. Career Teller appeared in many short films between 2004 and 2010. After graduating from Tisch School of the Arts in 2009, he made his major film debut in Rabbit Hole (2010), after Nicole Kidman handpicked him for the role. Teller starred in the stage musical Footloose in high school, and later starred in the 2011 remake film of the same name. In 2013, he starred in 21 & Over and The Spectacular Now, opposite Shailene Woodley. In Damien Chazelle's second film Whiplash (2014), Teller played a drummer who tries to impress his abusive jazz teacher (J. K. Simmons), which