Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre and cinema, writing a wide variety of dramas, including plays such as The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman, which are studied and performed worldwide. Miller was often in the public eye, most famously for refusing to give evidence against others to the House Un-American Activities Committee, being the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama among countless other awards, and for his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Miller is considered by audiences and scholars as one of America's greatest playwrights and his plays are lauded throughout the world.

Miller was born to moderately-affluent Polish-Jewish immigrants, Isidore and Augusta Miller, in Harlem in 1915. He lived there until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 after which his family moved to humbler quarters in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn. He is the older brother of actress Joan Copeland. When interviewed by BBC4 for The Atheism Tapes, he stated that he had been an atheist since his teens.

Because of the effects of the Great Depression on his family, Miller did not have money for college after graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School. Before securing a place at the University of Michigan, he worked in a number of menial jobs to pay for his tuition. He continued working in Ann Arbor to supplement his income.