Claim: Miles Teller attended New York University.

Miles Alexander Teller -LRB- born February 20 , 1987 -RRB- is an American actor . Born in Downingtown , Pennsylvania and an alumnus of NYU 's Tisch School of Arts , he appeared in several short films and television movies before making his feature film debut in Rabbit Hole -LRB- 2010 -RRB- . He had supporting roles in Footloose -LRB- 2011 -RRB- and Project X -LRB- 2012 -RRB- , before garnering critical acclaim for his leading performance as Sutter Keely in The Spectacular Now -LRB- 2013 -RRB- , for which he was awarded the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Acting and his role as Andrew Neiman in Whiplash , for which he was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor , the Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture , and the BAFTA Rising Star Award .