Austin Miller

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Austin Miller

Austin Miller
Born John P. Miller
June 7, 1976 (1976-06-07) (age 32)
Alvin, Texas
United States
Official website

Austin Miller (born June 7, 1976) is an American actor, dancer, and singer, known for television and stage performances. He played the part of Hawk in the soap opera Days of Our Lives, performed as the lead in the Hairspray musical in both a national tour and a Las Vegas production, and in 2007 was a second place finalist on the televised competition Grease: You're the One that I Want!.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Miller was raised in the small town of Alvin, Texas (population 21,000), to a conservative Catholic family.[1] Miller started performing at the age of 7, graduating from Alvin High School in 1994. He studied dance in Houston, and then briefly attended Texas's Baylor University on a vocal scholarship, where he joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity. But he dropped out to join a Las Vegas show, "Enter the Night," later performing in Starlight Express. The 19-year-old Miller then went on a national tour with the Grease musical, playing the character of Kenickie (Rizzo's boyfriend, played by Jeff Conaway in the film). He also performed in Smokey Joe's Cafe, playing the character of Michael, and the National Tour of "Victor/Victoria".

After various musical theatre roles, he moved to Los Angeles, obtaining a part as a minor character, Hawk, on the popular soap opera Days of Our Lives, and also being cast in some small movie roles. He then auditioned for and won a principal role in a nationally touring production of Hairspray. He also took on the same role in the short-lived Las Vegas production of Hairspray, which ran from February-June 2006 at the Luxor Hotel.[2]

[edit] Grease

Main article: Grease: You're the One that I Want!

Though he had performed in the national tour of Grease, when he auditioned for the same role on Broadway, he was turned down as not "blue collar" enough. At the audition, however, he heard of and applied for the upcoming televised competition, Grease: You're the One that I Want! whose winners were to be cast in the lead roles of Danny and Sandy in the next Broadway production.[3] Thousands of applicants were considered, with a few dozen then chosen to go to a "Grease Academy" bootcamp for one week. Miller proceeded through that step as well, and in 2007 was chosen to be one of the 12 contestants to go on to the live show, where call-in votes by the viewing audience were combined with judges' opinions to eliminate a different contestant each week. Miller had the nickname of "Hot Danny" on the show, and was often referred to as one of the veterans, since he has extensive stage experience but was competing against other contestants with much less. On both the February 11 and February 18, 2007 broadcasts one of the judges, influential producer David Ian, chose Miller as the "best Danny of the night."[4][5] On March 18, 2007, Miller was named as one of the two finalists in the competition, and was told that there was only a 1% difference in voter opinion between him and the other finalist, "Slacker Danny" Max Crumm. On March 25, 2007, Crumm was declared the final winner.[6]

According to a March 29, 2007 interview in the Houston Chronicle, Miller is currently in negotiation for his next project, which may be a television drama series.[6]

In September 2007, Miller will be performing in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, in a show called TULLY (in no particular order).[1]

[edit] Performances

[edit] Stage

[edit] Television

[edit] Film

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Former student makes it big", The Baylor Lariat, March 9, 2007
  2. ^ "Let Us 'Spray'", February 10, 2006, Las Vegas Review-Journal
  3. ^ Grease: You're the One that I Want!, "The casting search continues", January 14, 2007
  4. ^ Grease: You're the One that I Want!, "One Danny and one Sandy must leave," February 11, 2007
  5. ^ Grease: You're the One that I Want!, "The remaining contestants perform," February 18, 2007
  6. ^ a b "Winning Grease Isn't Everything", Houston Chronicle, March 29, 2007

[edit] References

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