He is so weird looking. O_o

60 Seconds: Wentworth Miller

Wentworth Miller started his career with bit parts in TV shows such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Popular. He has become a heart-throb thanks to Prison Break, in which he stars as a convict who is trying to bust his brother out of jail, armed with nothing but the prison blueprint tattooed on his torso.

That's an unusual name. My great grandmother picked it out of a Jane Austen novel - Captain Wentworth in Persuasion.

You were born in Britain. Have you been back? Yes, I was in an all-male a capella group when I was studying at Princeton and we'd tour Europe. We'd take the QE2 over from New York and spend some time in England. I spent nine months filming Dinotopia in Britain. It rained the most since records began when I was here but London's a lovely city besides that.

Is Prison Break fun to make? Yes. It's an ambitious show - it has got stunts and special effects, like the tattoo, in every show and hundreds of extras. We shoot it at a defunct prison outside Chicago - and in courtyards where civil war prisoners were executed and in cell blocks where John Wayne Gacy, one of America's first serial killers, was held.

It's quite atmospheric then? Ha ha. Yes, it's rich in that dark kind of history. We spent five days a week there for ten months making the first series.

Does spending so long in a location like that drive you a bit crazy? No, because I know I get to leave at the end of the day, which makes all the difference.

The series is celebrated for being ludicrously far-fetched. How does it sustain itself? There are a couple of near escapes but, over all, my character Michael has one continuous plan you follow throughout the season. We have a number of cliffhangers in each episode which keeps the audience coming back but, even though the action is fantastic and we demand suspension of disbelief, we also have characters you can invest in and care about over the long term.

What are they going to do for series two? Send him back to jail? If the brothers get out, the series will become more like The Fugitive, with us trying to elude the authorities and solve the conspiracy that put my brother behind bars in the first place.

Do you like prison shows in general? I just finished watching the fifth and final series of Oz, which was really well done. 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.

Have you ever seen Prisoner Cell Block H? No, but I've heard of it. It's a 1970s thing, right?

They were in a prison called Wentworth Detention Centre. That's a spooky coincidence.  Ha ha ha. It is. I've never seen it but I'm curious. Women behind bars seems tasty enough.

If you faced similar circumstances, would you bust a sibling out of jail? Not a chance. I'd get a few petitions lined up, make a few phone calls, get the best legal defence possible but I'd draw the line at actually going to jail on their behalf myself.

Your family have a legal background. Did they expect you to take that career path? No, but there was an expectation I'd get into the best college possible. After that, I could have done as I wanted.

So why did you go into acting? It is something I've enjoyed since I was a little boy. I abandoned those dreams at college because it didn't seem to be a realistic way of earning a living. I spent a couple of years working behind the scenes at a production company and realised I still had this nagging question I needed to answer - one that would always haunt me unless I gave it a try.

You went to 500 auditions and only got 15 jobs out if it. What kept you motivated? You have to believe in your heart of hearts that there's a script out there with your name on it and, if you keep pounding the pavement, something will turn up. You have to try not to take it personally, even though they're not rejecting your work, they're rejecting you - at least that's what it feels like. I considered giving up but I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. Acting was something I needed like air. It wasn't something I could walk away from.

What were you in when you were little? I was part of a dinosaur play in kindergarten. Everyone had to make their own costume with the help of their parents and most kids showed up with a paper bag over their heads. My father spent two weeks crafting this huge papier mâché Tyrannosaurus rex headpiece which was about half my body weight. When I tottered out on stage in front of all the parents and they burst into applause, I thought, 'There's something here'.

What was your first professional job? It was a guest star role on Buffy The Vampire Slayer back in 1997. It was one of my favourite shows, so to find myself on a back lot doing stunt work with Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz was a treat.

How easy was it to get the Prison Break job? 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.

The programme has raised your profile. Are you enjoying that? I am. A lot of people come up to me on the street and express their appreciation for the show. Prison Break has opened doors for me with feature film projects, although I won't be undertaking any in the season hiatus because, after ten months behind bars, I need to take a break.

What's the weirdest thing a fan has done to meet you? I'm not sure if it's a function of the character I play or the quality of fans the show has but they seem to be a respectful, well-behaved group. I was going to a chat show in New York when the car was surrounded by fans who wouldn't let us out until we gave autographs. I'm enjoying it, though.

You were in Mariah Carey's We Belong Together video. How was that? It was a blast and advantageous for me. I got more attention from that video than anything else I'd done. Brett Ratner, who directed the pilot episode of Prison Break, also directed that video so I went from one project to the next.

Is Mariah as mad as everyone says? Mariah's lovely. She took care of me on set and made sure that I felt at home and was enjoying myself.

You've got a mixed race background. Has that caused you problems being cast? I couldn't say for sure because I'm never in the room when they're discussing my audition tape. I imagine it has complicated things but I'll never know to what extent.

Vin Diesel wouldn't discuss his ethnicity in interviews. What do you make of that? That's entirely his own business. I certainly understand why because this is a business about definitions and labels and often those can be incredibly limiting role-wise. I've been pretty fortunate, though.

What underpants do you wear, asks Tat, from London. Boxers, by and large.

Virginia from Wimbledon, London, asks: 'Do you have a girlfriend or are you married?' No, I'm quite single right now. I'm married to the show.

Do you get any stick for being so good-looking, wonders Paula McLeod from London. Ha ha ha. No, there hasn't been a downside yet.

Have you got any tattoos yourself, asks Adam from Manchester. No, and I've got no plans to get any. 

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