Introduction: Who am I? Actor / Model: Headshots, photos, and résumés Author: Poems and short stories, medical writing samples, Mike-ro-grams, and selected chapters from the now-defunct novel "...But I Peaked In The Eighth Grade " Scientist: Professional CV, publications, past and current research areas

Introduction: Michael Leslie Miller

Welcome! For those of you visiting for the first time, this site is primarily designed to help me keep track of my own somewhat strange life. My story is simple--an average account of a somewhat misguided biochemist who spent too much time in the theatre, got a job designing educational reform programs for inner-city students, found a modeling and talent agent, spent time lobbying for congressional funding in Washington DC, left a faculty position at a medical university to wait tables in Chicago, became a public speaker, traveled 600 miles to do a play, then came back to pick up a job as a medical writer. But more about all of that later.

My first passion, which I discovered in about the second grade, is writing. I have been writing fictional stories and poems for many years, and somewhere along the way I had the idea to write a series of humorous, motivational, and somewhat self-effacing books about my own life and observations. What I forgot to take into account is that nobody really wants to read about an unknown, egocentric guy talking about himself, except perhaps my mother, and even she only does it to be polite. So I put all of that on the back burner and got a real writing job with a medical writing firm here in downtown Chicago. Some of my old writing is posted on this site, but for now my creative writing projects are simmering on the back burner, in no imminent danger of boiling over.

My primary training was in biochemistry. I received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 1999, with a specialty in Neuroscience. After two years of traditional postdoctoral research, I became involved in scientific outreach and education reform within my home state of Alabama. I spent several rewarding years as an educational outreach program director, where I designed and taught creative, hands-on science programs, summer courses, and weekend labs for students and the public. In my dual role as a university professor and Director of Labspace at a science museum, I witnessed educational reform that ACTUALLY WORKED. Someday I will return to educational outreach, when I am better poised to have a significant impact.

While I was in graduate school I took a few acting classes to satisfy a growing need for creative expression. As my skills improved and my acting career accelerated, I adopted the stage name of Michael Leslie to avoid conflict with my published scientific name and career. I got an agent and soon began to appear on commercials and in various print advertisements around the country, while continuing to do community and professional theatre in Birmingham. After 10 years of theatre, film, commercial, and print work, the acting bug continued to suck my blood until I finally acquiesced. I abandoned everything that I was doing in Birmingham and moved to Chicago to try life as an actor. I took a full schedule of professional theatre and film classes, got a couple of agents, did some plays, and waited tables (the primary skill of actors). At 35, however, I became weary of waiting tables and living hand-to-mouth, so I went back to science-- this time as a medical writer.

Most people either know me as a professional actor and don't know much about my day job, or they know about my scientific background and don't realize how fully the painful throes of acting have overtaken my mind, body, and blood. Fortunately, to the credit of a Creator who keeps me vibrantly alive, I have managed to have excellent success thus far in both fields. For numerous reasons, I have often needed to direct people to my CV, my acting and modeling résumés, or my scientific outreach or writing projects. That is the purpose of this website. Whatever brought you here, please feel free to explore the entire site. I hope you find what you are looking for and more.

Sincerely,

Michael Leslie Miller

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