Career
Miller started appearing in films and television when he was eight years old. His first film role was in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. He would go on to star in such films as River's Edge, Near Dark, Class of 1999, and Teen Witch. He also made guest appearances on several popular television shows, including 21 Jump Street, The Wonder Years, The Greatest American Hero, Highway to Heaven (for which he received a Young Artist Award in 1985), and Growing Pains (hence a popular misconception that he is a relative of Jeremy Miller, who was "Ben Seaver" on that series; they are not related). Miller appeared in several plays, and was involved in dance from a very early age. He starred in the Los Angeles Ballet Company's production of The Nutcracker for three consecutive seasons beginning at age seven, and later appeared as a dancer in Janet Jackson's Grammy Award-winning Rhythm Nation 1814 video.
Miller attended Yale and Antioch Universities and studied creative writing at UCLA. In 1997, he published a pseudo-autobiographical novel called The Mao Game about a fifteen-year-old child star attempting to cope with heroin addiction, memories of past sexual abuse, and the impending death of his grandmother, who has been diagnosed with cancer. In December 2003 he completed his MFA in creative writing at the University of Iowa. He was awarded the Capote Fellowship, and was also chosen for The Houghton-Mifflin Fellowship Award. He has written articles for Harper's Bazaar and Playboy.
In 1999, The Mao Game was adapted into a film, written and directed by Miller, and co-produced by Whoopi Goldberg. The film starred Miller, Kirstie Alley, and Piper Laurie, and featured Miller's mother, Susan Bernard, in a brief, uncredited cameo. The movie toured the festival circuit, and garnered mixed reviews from critics.
He appears as Jinky in The Wizard of Gore. He has written a second novel, titled Ash. Miller is collaborating with M.A. Fortin to write the DreamWorks TV and Fox production Howl, set in Alaska.
Read more about this topic: Joshua John Miller
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