DeadPool Star, TJ Miller, Credits His Hollywood Success to Brain Damage Suffered While Filming in New Zealand

You may know TJ Miller from his on-screen personas on hit shows like Silicon Valley, Marvel's mega-hit Deadpool, or his long list of voiceover work.

TJ promoting one of his mid-2010 films, "Office Christmas Party".Photo byImdb / imdb.com

But, the 41-year-old, Colorado native's first and true love is standup comedy.

On a recent podcast episode of Tigerbelly, TJ reveals to hosts Bobby Lee and Khalyla Kuhn that, despite touring as a standup comedian since the early 2000s, being named one of Variety's Comics To Watch in 2008, the majority of his audience has no idea he does standup at all.

And that he only began finding real acting success after suffering near-fatal brain damage while filming Yogi Bear 3D.

"I was out there, I was talking to cartoon bears, in the middle of a forest in New Zealand, and it ruptured and I started to go crazy... my brain started bleeding... I got totally obsessed with entanglement puzzles and I believed that I had just ascended to another level of intelligence... I was going insane."

After multiple seizures and an initial misdiagnosis from medical practitioners, TJ was sent away with no treatment to live life with a cerebral arteriovenous malformation -- a brain condition affecting the right side of his frontal lobe.

One of the major symptoms of TJ's condition is manic episodes -- something that has gotten him into trouble over the years. But, as he admits, has also been advantageous for his career.

"I was able to control it to a certain extent and it got me to do a lot of work, I got a lot done. In one year I was hosting the Critics' Choice Awards, doing Silicon Valley, recording Deadpool, voiceover, podcast, all this stuff."

But, as his mania continued to go untreated, it would lead to what TJ describes as a "psychotic split" -- something he experienced while filming Silicon Valley.

"One thing about a psychotic split that is so bizarre is that it's really 'hack'... everything that they make fun of or say in the movies and stuff, it all happens to you."

For TJ, this included thinking:

• His television was talking to him
• He saw drones disguised as birds
• The Chinese government was watching him

TJ also points to this time in his life as being the catalyst to a viral 2018 incident in which TJ thought a woman on a train was harbouring a bomb. She was not.

"The bomb threat incident", covered by Fox News.Photo byDoug Stewart / Fox News

During the 90-minute podcast, TJ goes on to explain how his specific brain trauma is a rarity in the medical world.

"Most people who have what I have, die... I am sort of a case study for neurologists... 'cause they're like, 'How did he have this brain injury but he has this fully functioning personality and he also excels in these particular places?... specifically the arts."

After removing a golf-ball-sized part of TJ's brain, he now takes regular medication, still has occasional manic episodes, and is in regular communication with a neuropsychologist.

But, despite his brain trouble, TJ's condition comes with some odd benefits -- allowing him to excel in his acting and standup performances.

One, is that his brain is unable to tell when he's tired:

"For the most part, now, I'm kind of chill with the dangerous aspects of it. But, it's like, I don't feel tired... What I have to do is when I haven't gotten a lot of sleep... I have to look in the mirror and I have to see if I have physical signs of fatigue."

Another, is that he doesn't feel self-conscious:

It manifests itself in kind of a weird, strange confidence that Hollywood is addicted to."

So, for now, it seems as though TJ is looking at his condition as a glass half full. He's currently on a podcast tour promoting his new comedy special, Dear Jonah, which is available for free on YouTube.

Hey, I'm Hudson! I write about social media, marketing, and modern entrepreneurship. Hit follow for more stories like this one.