Ernest Clifford Miller (born January 14, 1964) is an American actor and former professional wrestler who worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) better known by his ring name, Ernest "The Cat" Miller. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his role in the 2008 drama The Wrestler. Career Early career Miller graduated from Gordon High School in Decatur, Georgia, playing on the football team as a linebacker. He then went to Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia studying electrical engineering and playing football as an All-American linebacker. He started a career as a karate tournament competitor, winning the world championship three times, and once the ISKA kickboxing championship. He was brought to professional wrestling after being asked by WCW executive Eric Bischoff. Miller was by then a karate instructor and was teaching Bischoff's son Garett, when Bischoff asked him to become a professional wrestler. World Championship Wrestling (1997-2001) Early years (1997–1999) Miller made his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) debut when he saved Glacier from a two-on-one attack by Wrath and Mortis at the 1997 Slamboree pay-per-view. Initially thought as just a fan who had jumped the railing, the WCW commentators then realized that this was no ordinary man and he was in fact the three-time karate champion Ernest Miller. Glacier and Ernest Miller quickly became tag team partners in their feud with Mortis and Wrath. After Glacier turned on Miller, Ernest left him and became a villain with Sonny Onoo as his manager. It was during this time that Miller's popularity heightened. As a villain, Miller adopted an arrogant, Muhammad Ali-like trash-talking personality, calling himself "The Greatest" and gloating that he could beat anybody within two minutes, which he often did using his signature kicks. It was also around this time that Ernest began wearing ruby slippers in the ring and dancing in a James Brown-esque fashion to celebrate his victories. He would claim on Nitro that he knew the actual James Brown, leading to a pay-per-view "dance-off" between Miller and Brown, who had been brought in specially. Miller even went as far promoting his own instructional, karate home video with a pseudo infomercial. This served as a comedic parody to Billy Blanks' Tae Bo exercise videos which were quite popular at the time. Miller and Onoo also did comedy duo routines similar to Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan's characters from the film