James Leslie Miles Fisher (born June 23, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, entrepreneur and musician. He made his debut in the CBS adaptation of the book True Women and starred in the 2000 film Lone Star Struck. In 2001, for his role in his short film Head Shot, Fisher won Best Actor at the International Teen Movie Festival.
Fisher graduated from Harvard University, where he was an English major.[3] At Harvard, he was a member of the Porcellian Club, the Hasty Pudding Club and the a cappella singing group the Krokodiloes.[4] Fisher served as the Krokodiloes tour manager, and planned events for the group in 24 countries.[5] He was one of the two students chosen to deliver a Harvard Oration at the 2006 Harvard graduation ceremony.[6][7] His undergraduate thesis, which won the LeBaron Russell Briggs prize at Harvard, was a "screenplay about a Harvard graduate who avoided the Vietnam draft by teaching in a military prep school".[8]
Career
Fisher appeared in the 1997 CBS television movie adaptation of the book True Women as "Travis",[9] and had a starring role in the 2000 film Lone Star Struck.[5] He received the Best Actor award at the 2001 International Teen Movie Festival (ITMF) in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada,[10] for his own short film titled: Head Shot, which was among 10,000 other entries at the festival.[11]
2000s
In a 2001 article in Newsday titled: "Miles Fisher, 'It' Boy", columnist Liz Smith referred to Fisher as "wunderkind" and "the next Tom Cruise".[11] Smith's comparison of Fisher to Tom Cruise led to meetings with influential managers and agents, and he signed with the talent agency Endeavor Talent Agency in 2002.[12] Fisher appeared in the 2003 Civil War film Gods and Generals with Robert Duvall.[2] Director Ron Maxwell picked Fisher to portray a heroic member of the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers in the film; Duvall played Robert E. Lee.[11]
Fisher wrote and produced a short film called Heatshot in 2009 with Evan Nichols; the film was selected to be screened at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. Alan Peppard of The Dallas Morning News reported in March 2009 that Fisher had been cast in the pilot of a television show set in 1983 in Southern California; a spinoff of Gossip Girl. He portrayed a "sleazy" coke dealer on the television series of the same name.[17]
In July 2009, Fisher released an independently produced self-titled EP, Miles Fisher, as well as a music video for his cover of the Talking Heads song "This Must Be The Place."[17][18] The video is an homage to the 2000 film American Psycho, with Fisher imitating Christian Bale's performance as Patrick Bateman.[17] Students from the American Film Institute helped film the video, which was shot in Los Angeles.[18] The video was posted on YouTube and various other web sites, and received 200,000 hits on Break.com alone within the first 24 hours.[17] Darrell Hartman of Interview called the usage of the Talking Heads song with the American Psycho theme "a brilliant combo", and noted that Fisher "created a viral hit".[18]
2010s
On the third season of the television series Mad Men, Fisher portrayed Geoff Graves, a friend of character Paul Kinsey.[19] Jessica Gelt of the Los Angeles Times described his character as a "preppy drug dealer".[20] In 2010, Fisher was cast in the film Final Destination 5.[21][22][23] In an interview with Collider.com, Fisher revealed that the film was set in a workplace environment, and was a 3-D film.[24] Fisher appeared in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover biopic, J. Edgar, playing Agent Garrison, an FBI employee who interviews Leonardo DiCaprio's Hoover throughout the film.[25]
On May 22, 2013, a music video for "Finish What We Started" through AboveAverageNetwork on YouTube was posted. The music video featuring Lance Bass has yet to release a single for the song, and a subsequent album has been released, dubbed "Video Music." The music video has been posted to Fisher's personal website.[32]
2020s
In the early 2020s, Fisher saw a deepfake video by Chris Ume, a Belgian visual effects (VFX) artist in which Fisher's eyes were replaced with those of Tom Cruise.[33] Fisher and Ume subsequently collaborated to produce YouTube and TikTok videos of Fisher performing mundane or silly tasks while posing as Cruise, satirizing Cruise's haughty and aloof public persona. The videos quickly went viral, collecting millions of views in only a few days. Fisher has not monetized the videos and has deliberately avoided topics of a potentially personal or controversial nature, as he has not received permission from Cruise to use his likeness for profit; Fisher characterized the effort as "good-natured parody" inspired by years of being called the "Tom Cruise guy" due to his similar appearance.[34]
Business ventures
In 2017, Fisher co-founded the Bixby Roasting Company with Remington Hotchkis in Los Angeles, CA.[35] The company began with a Kickstarter campaign as CUPS, before launching Bixby.[36] In February 2023, Westrock Coffee Company acquired the Bixby brand and roasting facility, with Fisher becoming the Senior Vice President of Sales at Westrock.[37][38]
In 2021, Fisher co-founded Metaphysic, a technology company focusing on generative AI, alongside VFX and AI artist Chris Ume and CEO Tom Graham on the back of the “Deep Tom Cruise” deepfake videos.[35][39]
Personal life
In 2014, Miles married Lucette Blodgett, daughter of actor and writer Michael Blodgett.[40] They were introduced by broadcaster Willow Bay.[41] They had their first child, a daughter, in October 2017.[42]
^Christian, Matt (Winter 2005–2006). "Introducing the Krokodiloes of 2006"(PDF). The Friends of the Kroks Newsletter. 3 (1). The Friends of the Kroks, Inc.: 3. Archived(PDF) from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved September 11, 2008.
^Peppard, Alan (June 2, 2003). "Is Palm sweating his exit?". The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News, Inc. p. 9B.
^ abFrank, Lillian (July 22, 2006). "Just a little bit Australian". Herald Sun.
^Peppard, Alan (May 15, 2006). "Over the Top - With Alan Peppard". The Dallas Morning News. p. 2G.
^Bryant, Helen (May 20, 1997). "Fairway friendship on course". The Dallas Morning News. The Dallas Morning News Company. p. 21A.
^Bhandari, Aparita (August 19, 2002). "Youths aim for Spielberg on a shoestring - International Teen Movie Festival screening nearly 300 films". Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. p. E04.
^ abcdSmith (November 27, 2001). "Miles Fisher, 'It' Boy". Newsday. Newsday Inc. p. A17.
