Miles Teller Through the Years: His Movies, Marriage to Keleigh Sperry and More

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Miles Teller Through the Years: His Movies, Marriage to Keleigh Sperry and More

From Tisch to Top Gun. Miles Teller made his major film debut one year after graduating from NYU’s School of the Arts and went on to star in movies including the Divergent series and Fantastic Four. The Pennsylvania native acted alongside Nicole Kidman in the 2010 film Rabbit Hole, an experience he called “surreal” during an interview with BlackBook. “It was very much a larger-than-life, surreal experience, you know, going from seeing these people that you’re a fan of and then you’re working with them,” he said. “It’s similar with sports. You can watch these people growing up and then be in the same industry as them.” But Teller didn’t stay the starstruck newcomer for long. In 2014, he played an ambitious jazz drummer in the psychological drama Whiplash, which earned five Oscar nominations. J.K. Simmons, who played Teller’s villainous instructor, won Best Supporting Actor for his performance. [jwplayer WrGuC411-zhNYySv2] The Tisch graduate performed all the drumming sequences shown in the film himself. “I started drumming when I was 15 and I had played in rock bands, but I had never played jazz,” Teller said in a 2014 interview with IndieWire. He told the outlet that the frustration he felt trying to master the new genre came out in his character. “All those guys [in the film] are real musicians so they’re really playing and I’m really playing the drums — and the music is complicated. I’m trying not to mess up. In the drum-off scene, that’s really all of us drumming as fast as we can and really expending ourselves, which is nice because it’s easier to be exhausted than to play exhausted,” he explained. Teller also starred in the 2013 coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now with Shailene Woodley before going on to appear in Divergent and its two sequels with the Big Little Lies star. Woodley gave her former costar a shoutout after seeing him in the 2022 film Top Gun: Maverick. "@tomcruise obvi slayed so hard … and #milesteller gave the world everything you want but rarely get in a blockbuster film … heart. soul. sass. charisma. (oiled up abs). pain. elation. and he did it all with such subtlety you barely knew it was happening," she wrote via Instagram in June 2022. "He really is such a wildly talented actor, and it made my heart explode watching him do his thing in this. i'm beyond happy for him and this entire @topgunmovie team. thank you for giving the world this gift." When it comes to his personal life, Teller has been married to model Keleigh Sperry since September 2019. The pair started dating in 2013 and got engaged during a 2017 trip to South Africa. “2 years ago today, I married the woman of my dreams,” the Thank You For Your Service actor wrote via Twitter in 2021. “There isn’t a day that goes by where I’m not reminded of how much I truly love and adore you. Thank you for your kindness and unconditional support, Keleigh. I would be lost without you.” The real-life married couple appeared as the bride and groom in Taylor Swift’s 2021 music video for “I Bet You Think About Me.” [podcast_block]

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2010

Teller made his major film debut in Rabbit Hole. He told The Daily Telegraph Australia in 2017 that his costar Kidman intentionally gave him the silent treatment on set at first.

“Nicole had an idea that she wanted us to develop a kind of relationship as our characters did,” he told the outlet. “But by the end of it at the wrap party, we were bowling together and laughing and talking about all these things. She’s absolutely different.”

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2011

The Pennsylvania native played Willard in the musical remake of Footloose, a role he’d previously done in a high school show.

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2013

Teller starred opposite Woodley in the romantic coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now.

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2014

In Whiplash, Teller played a young jazz drummer trying to impress his ruthless teacher at all costs. He earned several nominations for the performance, including the BAFTA Rising Star Award and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor.

The same year, Divergent premiered, in which Teller plays Peter Hayes.

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2015

The actor played Mister Fantastic in the Fantastic Four reboot and also appeared in Insurgent, the sequel to Divergent.

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2016

Teller played boxer Vinny Paz in the biopic Bleed for This and starred in the final film in the Divergent series, Allegiant.

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2017

Teller and the Sperry got engaged at the Molori Safari Lodge on August 20 after dating since 2013. The Whiplash actor explained how he proposed during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Ryan.

“We were on an African safari so I brought the ring to Africa, which I was a little nervous about. I had our guide early in the morning tie a rose to a tree, [and we] walked up to this nice scenic vista having coffee. She looked over and saw a rose and thought somebody had died,” he joked.

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2019

The War Dogs actor and Sperry exchanged vows during a romantic ceremony in Maui, Hawaii. After the wedding, the model told Vogue how she and Teller decided on the destination.

“Miles started joining us on vacations, and we fell in love with [Hawaii] together. We both felt happiest there and wanted it to be a big part of our lives forever,” she said.

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2021

Teller starred opposite Swift in the music video for her song “I Bet You Think About Me,” directed by Blake Lively. Sperry also appeared in the video as Teller’s wife.

“So grateful for @miles_Teller for being the greatest dance partner and friend to me. And @keleighteller, who is the coolest living human on planet earth. The bride was willing to risk it all,” Swift wrote via Twitter alongside a series of photos of her posing on set with the real-life lovebirds.

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2022

The Tisch School of the Arts alum starred in Top Gun: Maverick alongside Tom Cruise. During a conversation with E! News’ Daily Pop, Teller revealed that he sometimes has to cut phone conversations with Cruise short or the Mission Impossible star would never stop talking. "It's like an hour and a half, two hours, I'm like, 'Tom, I love you man. I gotta go,’” he said.