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Who is Johnny English star Ben Miller?
FROM Johnny English to Bridgerton, Ben Miller has played some of the most recognisable characters on TV.
The actor and comedian has been making us laugh from the screen for more than 20 years.
Who is Ben Miller?
Born Bennet Evan Miller on February 24, 1966 in London, he is the son of immigrant father Michael Miller, a lecturer in American literature at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, and a Welsh mother, Marion.
He grew up in Nantwich, Cheshire, where he went to Malbank School and Sixth Form College, the local comprehensive school.
While studying Natural Sciences in Cambridge, he joined the Footlights in 1989, working with Andy Parsons, David Wolstencroft and Sue Perkins, and went on to direct a revue.
He began his first attempts in comedy after meeting fellow Cambridge graduate Alexander Armstrong in 1992.
Together they started their own sketch show - The Armstrong and Miller Show.
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What TV shows and movies has Ben Miller starred in?
At the beginning of his career, Miller starred in Channel 4's television series Armstrong and Miller, which ran for four series from 1997 to 2001.
After a six-year break, the show was recommissioned as The Armstrong & Miller Show.
In 2003, he played the role of Agent Bough, sidekick to Rowan Atkinson's Johnny English.
He reclaimed the role in 2018, starring in Johnny English Strikes Again, the third instalment in the series.
From 2007, he starred as James Peregrine Lester in ITV's 2007 sci-fi drama Primeval.
One of Miller's most popular roles is as Detective Inspector Richard Poole in the BBC drama series Death in Paradise.
The hugely successful drama Miller's character Richard Poole, investigating the murder of another officer on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie.
He appeared in the first three series, from 2011 until the series three premiere in 2014 when he announced he won't be coming back.
Miller's wife had discovered she was pregnant after he had begun filming the first series and the actor wanted to spend more time with his family.
He then made a surprise return for season 10, appearing as a figment of character Camille Bordey's imagination.
In 2020, Miller played the role of Lord Featherington in the hugely popular Netflix period drama Bridgerton.
Most recently, the actor starred as Cambridge lecturer and detective Jasper Tempest in the six-part crime drama Professor T.
Is Ben Miller related to Rob Brydon?
Ben Miller has often been mistaken for fellow actor and comedian Rob Brydon although they are not related.
Miller shared he found the similarity "extremely irritating to start with", but it has since become a long-running joke between the pair.
In 2009, Miller appeared with Rob Brydon in an episode of QI, where as a joke they wore similar shirts and even shared an on-screen kiss.
Does Ben Miller have a PhD?
Miller read Natural Sciences at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
He remained at Cambridge to work on a PhD in solid state physics but eventually decided to quit his studies and focus on a career in comedy.
As an undergraduate, he was one of only two state school-educated students in his year, and felt he had to prove himself.
“At Cambridge, I found out that the advantages I thought other people had didn’t really exist," said the actor about his time studying.
Is Ben Miller married and does he have kids?
Miller has been married twice and has three children.
In 2004, he married his first wife Belinda Stewart-Wilson, who is best known for playing Will's mum Polly McKenzie in The Inbetweeners.
The pair, who worked together on Series 3 of Primeval, have a son, born in 2006.
After seven years of marriage, they separated in 2011.
Ben said: “I’m very lucky, I had a very amicable separation and very amicable divorce, but it was still horrendous."
The same year, Miller has another son with his second wife, production executive Jessica Parker.
Shortly after they began dating in 2011 Jessica found out she was pregnant, which influenced Ben's decision to quit Death in Paradise.
“Two weeks after I arrived in the Caribbean, Jessica found out that she was pregnant.
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"I've just got divorced and I've finally met somebody and now I'm on the other side of the world and we're having a baby,” recalled the actor.
The couple tied the knot in September 2013 and welcomed their second child, a daughter, in June 2015.