Ezra Miller
Ezra Matthew Miller (born September 30, 1992) is an American actor. Their[a] feature film debut was in Afterschool (2008), which they followed by starring in the dramas We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
This article is about the American actor. For the politician, see Ezra Miller (politician).
Ezra Miller
Actor
2007–present
After a supporting role in the comedy Trainwreck (2015), Miller played Credence Barebone in the Fantastic Beasts fantasy films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). In 2020, they had a recurring role on the miniseries The Stand. From 2016 to 2023, Miller played the Flash in the DC Extended Universe, primarily in the films Justice League (2017) and The Flash (2023), with cameo appearances in other media.
Miller's off-screen life has been marred with multiple controversies and legal issues. Since 2022, they have been accused of committing assault, burglary, disorderly conduct, harassment, and grooming of minors, resulting in multiple widely publicized arrests, citations, and restraining orders.[1][2][3][4]
Early life
Ezra Matthew Miller[5][6] was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey,[7][8] on September 30, 1992.[9][10] They have two older sisters named Saiya and Caitlin.[11] Their mother, Marta Miller (née Koch), is a modern dancer.[8] Their father, Robert S. Miller, was senior vice president and managing director of Hyperion Books, and later became a publisher at Workman Publishing.[11][12] Miller's father is Jewish; their mother is of Dutch and German descent.[13] Miller identifies as Jewish and "spiritual".[14][15][16] At the age of six, they started to train as an opera singer in order to overcome a speech impediment, stuttering.[17] They have sung with the Metropolitan Opera,[18] and performed in the American premiere of Philip Glass's opera White Raven.[8] Miller attended Rockland Country Day School and The Hudson School, dropping out at age 16 after the release of the film Afterschool. Miller attended Bard College for six months before dropping out to pursue their acting career full time.[12][19][20][21][22]
Legal issues
Disorderly conduct
On June 28, 2011, in the midst of filming The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Miller was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over in Pittsburgh for a broken brake light; police discovered 20 grams of marijuana in Miller's possession.[50] The actor was initially charged with drug possession, but the charge was later dropped by a judge. They instead faced a penalty of $600 for two citations of disorderly conduct.[24] They later remarked, "I don't feel like there's any need to hide the fact that I smoke pot. It's a harmless herbal substance that increases sensory appreciation."[12]
Choking incident
On April 6, 2020, a video surfaced in a since-deleted tweet that appeared to show Miller choking a woman and throwing her to the ground. The video was confirmed by Variety to have taken place at Prikið Kaffihús, a bar in Reykjavík, Iceland, that Miller frequents when in the city.[51][52][53] A bar employee identified the person in the video as Miller, who was escorted off the premises by staff after the incident.[51]
In September 2022, a representative for Miller claimed that the supposed strangulation was a "spontaneous reaction" spurred by "a group of teenagers" taunting Miller over their mixed martial arts skills, and that they did not strangle the woman but "went at her collarbone".[21]
Hawaii incidents
By early March 2022, Miller had arrived on the island of Hawaii. From March 7 through March 28, Miller was the subject of ten calls to the police because of various minor incidents, such as filming people at a gas station, loitering on a restaurant's sidewalk, and arguing with people. Eventually, Miller was invited to live with a couple at a hostel in Hilo after Miller became acquainted with them at a farmer's market.[54][55]
On March 28, Miller was arrested in Hilo following what police said was a physical altercation with patrons after having hurled obscenities at customers at a karaoke bar and was charged with disorderly conduct and harassment.[56][57] Miller later claimed that they became enraged after being "accosted by a Nazi", but Hawaii Police Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho stated that Miller's outrage was caused by patrons of the bar singing Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's song "Shallow." Miller claimed to have filmed the incident so the footage could later be used as "NFT crypto art." During their arrest, Miller said that they were being "unlawfully persecuted" and, after members of the police misgendered them, accused the officers of intentionally committing a hate crime.[21][55]
Three days later, the couple Miller was staying with was granted a temporary restraining order against Miller after they allegedly threatened the two, while also stealing the wife's passport and the husband's wallet. According to the couple, the incident took place the same night as Miller's arrest at the karaoke bar, hours after the husband bailed Miller out of jail for $500. The allegation involved Miller barging into the couple's bedroom and threatening "I will bury you and your slut wife."[58][54] Soon after, Miller fled Hilo with a friend to stay in Volcano, Hawaii.[55] The couple later dropped their petition for the order on April 11.[59]
On April 19, Miller was again taken into custody for second-degree assault by Leilani Estates Subdivision police authorities in Pāhoa. According to Midi Libre, they were arrested for throwing a chair, which hit a 26-year-old woman and left a half-inch cut on her forehead, after being told to leave during a private get-together.[60] Miller was arrested 20 minutes after the attack during a traffic stop in Kea'au.[61][62] Within hours of this second arrest, Miller pleaded no contest to the karaoke incident and was fined $500 for disorderly conduct by judge Kanani Laubach.[63][64]
Relationship with Tokata Iron Eyes and alleged messiah claims
In June 2022, the Standing Rock Sioux tribal court issued a temporary order of protection against Miller on behalf of 18-year-old activist Tokata Iron Eyes. Her parents, Chase Iron Eyes and Sara Jumping Eagle, said they requested the court order because of Miller's use of "violence, intimidation, threat of violence, fear, paranoia, delusions, and drugs" to hold sway over their child.[1] The relationship between Miller and Iron Eyes, which began in 2016 when Miller was aged 23 and Iron Eyes was aged 12, also included Iron Eyes flying to London in 2017 to visit Miller on the set of The Crimes of Grindelwald. Iron Eyes dropped out of school in 2021, which her parents believe she did in order to follow Miller. Her parents also stated in court documents that Miller had caused bruises on their child's body, and that Miller has groomed and manipulated her.[65] Text and video responses were later posted on the Instagram account believed to belong to Iron Eyes, denying her parents' allegations; however, the parents countered by claiming their child did not have control over her social media account. Iron Eyes stated in the video response that it was her own choice not to have a phone.[66][67][65] Law enforcement were initially unable to locate Miller to serve them with the order.[68] Miller then posted messages, since deleted, on their Instagram account mocking the court's attempts to find them.[69] Iron Eyes' parents later attempted to obtain a permanent order of protection against Miller, but it was eventually dismissed. They also withdrew their request for the custody of Iron Eyes.[21]
In August, Miller's former music collaborator Oliver Ignatius stated that he had witnessed Miller verbally abuse Iron Eyes over her wearing makeup. Iron Eyes defended Miller by referring to the incident as "a catty comment" and a part of "queer dialogue"; she called the allegation of abuse "homophobic".[4] According to a former resident of Miller's farm in Vermont, Miller believed that people criticized their relationship with Iron Eyes because she is "an apocalyptic Native American spider goddess" who, along with Miller as Jesus Christ, will bring about an Indigenous revolution. Miller allegedly refers to themself as a Messiah to Native Americans. Miller does not have Indigenous ancestry, and their attitude toward the Native American community has been strongly criticized by some within it.[21]
Harassment allegations
On June 16, 2022, a mother and her twelve-year-old child were granted a temporary harassment prevention order against Miller in Massachusetts after they said that Miller threatened the woman's family and showed inappropriate behavior towards the child. According to the mother, child, and a neighbor, Miller, who was originally visiting a neighbor, showed up at the family's house unexpectedly while wearing a bulletproof vest and brandishing a gun before "pestering" the child by "uncomfortably" touching the child's hips.[2][3]
The child's mother told Business Insider that Miller had known the family since February, had taken an interest in the child because of their "style and maturity level", and had offered to start a clothing line with the child and fund their attendance to a design school. The mother also said that Miller considered the child to be a powerful "mystical being" who "would be lucky to have Ezra to guide and protect them." Shortly before the order was granted in June, the mother stated, Miller arrived at the family's house dressed as a cowboy and attempted to buy horses for the child.[4]
No criminal charges were filed and the order was lifted on June 30, 2023. Miller's attorney Marissa Elkins stated that all of the encounters between them and the child were initiated by the mother, that they were never alone with the child and they only interacted twice for a short while in front of other adults. She also denied that Miller had brandished a gun and stated that they had been unable to come to court to defend themselves when the order was issued.[70]
Vermont farm incidents
As reported by Rolling Stone, Miller had been housing a woman they met in Hilo, Hawaii, and her three children on Miller's farm in Stamford, Vermont, since mid-April 2022. Allegations from both anonymous and named sources as well as the children's father are that guns and ammunition are easily accessible to the children, aged one to five years, and that the one-year-old put a loose bullet in her mouth. The woman claimed that Miller was offering them a shelter from her ex-husband, who she alleged was abusive. Further claims include assault rifles being propped up on piles of the children's stuffed animals, and "heavy marijuana use" with people smoking marijuana in front of the children in rooms without proper ventilation, including a witness stating that he "saw Miller blow marijuana smoke in the baby's face and use their arm to waft more smoke in the baby's direction."[4] Rolling Stone also published that Miller has been running a large, unlicensed marijuana cultivation operation.[71]
On the weekend of August 6, 2022, Vermont State Police approached Miller's residence and "repeatedly attempted to serve the mother an emergency care order that demanded the children's removal from her care and the home over fear for their safety... based on a Department for Children and Families (DCF) caseworker's affidavit, the State Attorney's office had requested two emergency care orders over the past week that sought to transfer legal custody of the children over to the state."[72] Police and social workers were unable to locate the children or the mother. Miller told police that the woman and her children do not live there, and have not "for the past two months".[72] Contradicting Miller, the DCF caseworker, in her affidavit to the Court, presented evidence that up until late July 2022, the woman had been regularly posting images on social media that confirm that she was living with Miller.[72] The Vermont State Attorney's office stated that Miller's response "seemed like an attempt to 'evade service'" of the order.[72]
Burglary charge
On August 7, 2022, Miller was charged with felony burglary in Stamford, Vermont, stemming from what the police report indicated was theft of bottles of alcohol from a private home in May 2022, according to Vermont State Police.[73] According to the report, Miller was identified by police via video surveillance footage. Miller was due to be arraigned in court on September 26, 2022.[73] A week prior to the planned arraignment date, a representative for Miller stated that the home is owned by a former childhood friend of Miller's and that Miller believed that they were welcome to enter the home to obtain rice wine for cooking.[21]
The arraignment was later pushed back to October 17, 2022.[74] Appearing in court remotely on that date, Miller pleaded not guilty to the charges.[75][76] The next hearing on this case was scheduled for January 13, 2023.[76][77] A day before the scheduled hearing, they pleaded guilty to trespassing, leading to burglary and petit larceny charges being dropped.[78] On the day of the hearing, Miller's trespassing plea was approved by the court.[79] Miller was handed 12 months probation by Judge Kerry Ann McDonald-Cady at Bennington County Superior Court, Vermont. Miller told the court they believe they can comply with the stipulations of the one-year probation, which included no contact with the victims, continuing their mental health treatment, random alcohol screenings, not being convicted of a criminal offense, among others.[80]