# Jennifer Miller

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jennifer_Miller
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jennifer_Miller.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Miller
> Source revision: 1318148145
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

American circus entertainer, writer and professor

For other people named Jennifer Miller, see [Jennifer Miller (disambiguation)](/source/Jennifer_Miller_(disambiguation)).

Jennifer Miller Born 1961 (age 64–65) United States Occupations Circus performer writer professor

**Jennifer Miller** (born 1961) is an American [circus](/source/Circus) entertainer, writer, and professor at [Pratt Institute](/source/Pratt_Institute) in [Brooklyn, New York](/source/Brooklyn%2C_New_York). She has lived with a beard for most of her life.[1] She is a [juggler](/source/Juggling) and [fire eater](/source/Fire_eater). Miller lives in New York City.

## Biography

Miller is the youngest daughter of two Quaker professors[2] and grew up in [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut) and [California](/source/California). Miller became involved in the performing arts and theater while in high school, and was involved in the downtown dance scene in New York in the early 1980s. In her career as a performing artist, which has spanned over 20 years,[2] she has performed with numerous choreographers and dancers, several circus companies, and in the [Coney Island SideShow](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coney_Island_SideShow&action=edit&redlink=1). Miller has also collaborated on theatrical works with [Sarah Schulman](/source/Sarah_Schulman).[3]

In 1989, she established the acclaimed NYC political performance troupe [Circus Amok](/source/Circus_Amok).[4][5] She was also a focus of [Tami Gold](/source/Tami_Gold)'s documentary *Juggling Gender,* an exploratory piece addressing themes of androgyny, gender classification and identification, feminism, and femaleness through a singular focal character, Jennifer Miller herself.[6][7] Circus Amok has been the subject of numerous documentary films. Miller is widely recognized for her work and is the recipient of awards including the [Obie](/source/Obie_Award), [Bessie](/source/Bessie_Awards), BAX 10, and, most recently, the [Ethyl Eichelberger](/source/Ethyl_Eichelberger) Award. She currently teaches in New York at [Pratt Institute](/source/Pratt_Institute), and has taught at several universities including [UCLA](/source/University_of_California%2C_Los_Angeles), [Cal Arts](/source/Cal_Arts), [Scripps College](/source/Scripps_College), [Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Program](/source/Trinity%2FLa_MaMa_Performing_Arts_Program) and [NYU](/source/New_York_University).[8]

In 2010, Miller served as a co-hostess to [Vaginal Davis](/source/Vaginal_Davis)' performance piece "Speaking from the Diaphragm" at [Performance Space 122](/source/Performance_Space_122).[9]

## See also

- [Bearded lady](/source/Bearded_lady)

- [Circus Amok](/source/Circus_Amok)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Hornberger2005_1-0)** Hornberger, Francine (April 1, 2005). [*Carny Folk: The World's Weirdest Sideshow Acts*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KodqEhzSzzEC&pg=RA3-PT93). Citadel Press. pp. 175–. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780806526614](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780806526614). Retrieved June 1, 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) Smith, Dinitia (June 9, 1995). ["Step Right Up! See the Bearded Person!"](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/09/arts/step-right-up-see-the-bearded-person.html). *The New York Times*. Retrieved March 19, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Sussman, Mark. "A Queer Circus Amok in New York." In Cohen-Cruz, Jan. *Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology*. London: Routledge, 2003. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780415152303](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780415152303) Print. p. 262-270.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Bax, Sander, ed. (2015). *Interrupting the City: Artistic Constitutions of the Public Sphere*. Amsterdam: Valiz. p. 197. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789492095022](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789492095022).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Carr, C. (July 14, 1998). ["Circus Minimus"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180916065327/https://www.villagevoice.com/1998/07/14/circus-minimus/). *The Village Voice*. Archived from [the original](https://www.villagevoice.com/1998/07/14/circus-minimus/) on September 16, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Krawitz, Jan (1993). "Review of Juggling Gender". *Journal of Film and Video*. **45** (2/3): 113–115. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0742-4671](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0742-4671). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [20688011](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20688011).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Gold, Tami; Miller, Jennifer; Steinberg, Allison; Porath, Yoram; Kafka, Harry; AndersonGold Films; Tamerik Productions; Transit Media Communications (2008), *Juggling gender: politics, sex and identity*, AndersonGold Films ; Distributed by AndersonGold Films, Inc/Transit Media Communications, [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [311095953](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/311095953)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Carter, Marie (September 4, 2007). ["Political Circus Dazzles Brooklyn"](https://brooklynrail.org/2007/9/streets/political-circus-dazzles-brooklyn). *The Brooklyn Rail*. Retrieved March 19, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Vaginal Davis"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120608010237/http://www.studiomuseum.org/studio-blog/artists/studio-visits/vaginal-davis). *[Studio Museum in Harlem](/source/Studio_Museum_in_Harlem)*. July 6, 2010. Archived from [the original](http://www.studiomuseum.org/studio-blog/artists/studio-visits/vaginal-davis) on June 8, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Jennifer Miller](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Jennifer_Miller).

- Dinitia Smith (June 9, 1995). ["Step Right Up! See the Bearded Person!"](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/09/arts/step-right-up-see-the-bearded-person.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm). *New York Times*. Retrieved November 2, 2011.

- Michelle Markelz (September 29, 2011). ["Interview with Jennifer Miller: The Bearded Lady"](http://www.voxmagazine.com/stories/2011/09/29/interview-jennifer-miller-bearded-lady/). *Vox Magazine – Columbia Missourian*. Retrieved November 2, 2011.{{[cite news](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_news)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

- [Founder of political theater/circus to perform at MCLA](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211233/http://lastvisibledog.org/blog/2006/03/04/jennifer-miler-and-circus-amok/)

- [The Independent Student Publication of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts](http://media.www.mclabeacon.com/media/storage/paper802/news/2007/03/29/News/Bearded.Woman.Comes.To.Campus-2810452.shtml)[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*], 2007

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat National United States Other Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jennifer Miller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Miller) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Miller?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.