Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) was born in Parma, Ohio, on October 8, 1980. His parents are divorced; he has a step-father and two half-siblings. He attended Normandy High School, where he was the captain of the basketball and cross country teams, participated in swimming, was a member of the student government, and edited the yearbook. He then attended Miami University, where he was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity and studied business at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business before being chosen as a cast member on The Real World (2001).

Mizanin dropped out of college, where he was pursuing a degree in business, in order to appear on the 10th season of MTV's reality television program The Real World in 2001. He went on to appear in multiple seasons of its spin-off series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

It was during an episode of The Real World that Mizanin first displayed an alter ego known as The Miz. In contrast to Mizanin's usually placid demeanor, The Miz was angry, combative and headstrong. Mizanin later realized that The Miz would make an excellent professional wrestling gimmick.

Pursuing the goal of becoming a professional wrestler, Mizanin joined Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he trained in the Ultimate University. He made his in-ring debut in 2003 as The Miz.

In October 2004, Mike Mizanin entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition which awarded the winner a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract and US$1,000,000. Despite coming last in an arm wrestling tournament on November 25, Mizanin outlasted six other wrestlers and reached the final round. At Armageddon on December 12, Mizanin faced the other remaining entrant, Daniel Puder, in a three-round "Dixie Dogfight" (boxing match). Neither man achieved a knockout, and the contest was awarded to Puder on the basis of crowd reaction. On the December 16 episode of SmackDown!, Puder was declared as the winner of Tough Enough by head trainer Al Snow. Despite coming up short on Tough Enough, Mizanin had piqued the interest of WWE and he was eventually offered a developmental contract.

Mizanin was sent to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to train under Bill DeMott, relocating to McDonough, Georgia in the process. In July 2005, he wrestled two dark matches for WWE, teaming with former Tough Enough champion Matt Cappotelli to face The Highlanders (Robbie and Rory McAllister). On December 1, Mizanin defeated Mike Knox in the finals of a tournament to determine the inaugural Deep South Heavyweight Champion. He continued his partnership with Matt Cappotelli throughout the second half of 2005 in WWE dark matches and house shows until Cappotelli, nominally of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), was diagnosed with a brain tumor after an injury at a taping in December 2005. After Cappotelli's death from brain cancer in June 2018, Miz revealed they were to be called up to the SmackDown roster as a tag team known as Reality Check in 2005, but these plans were halted due to Cappotelli's cancer diagnosis.

On January 3, 2006, it was reported that Mizanin had been transferred to OVW. On the January 18, 2006 OVW TV show, Mizanin made his debut as Miz with a Miz TV segment, where he was shown talking backstage. On the January 28 episode of the OVW television show, The Miz wrestled his first singles match against René Duprée, but lost by countout.

When Mizanin actually attempted to make his debut on the April 21 episode of SmackDown!, he was in storyline banned from entering the arena by network executive Palmer Canon who told him that he had been "cancelled" before having security escort him from the premises.

The Miz debuted as the host of SmackDown! on June 2, hyping up the crowd at the top of the show. Other duties included backstage interviews and hosting a bikini contest. Starting in July, Miz, along with Ashley Massaro, hosted the annual Diva Search competition.

After the end of the Diva Search competition, The Miz began wrestling as a villain, making his in-ring debut with a win over Tatanka on the September 1 episode of SmackDown!. Over the next three months, The Miz remained undefeated, defeating such wrestlers as Matt Hardy, Funaki and Scotty 2 Hotty. At the same time, he began a feud with Diva Search winner Layla El, who spurned his advances on more than one occasion, leading to Miz helping Kristal defeat her in various competitions. However, Miz and Kristal soon found themselves being stalked by The Boogeyman. This began a feud in which the Boogeyman ended The Miz's winning streak on December 17 at Armageddon.

Following a brief absence from television, The Miz returned on the March 9 episode of SmackDown! to host an interview segment named Miz TV. After the unsuccessful segment, The Miz returned to in-ring competition with a more intense style and began to pick up wins once again.

On the November 16 episode of SmackDown!, The Miz became one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions with John Morrison (the former Johnny Nitro) when they defeated Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), giving Miz his first championship within the company. They dropped the championship to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder at the Great American Bash on July 20 in a fatal four-way match which also involved Jesse and Festus, ending their reign at 250 days. Neither Miz nor Morrison were pinned as Hawkins pinned Jesse to win the titles.

On the April 13 episode of Raw, The Miz lost a match to Kofi Kingston due to Morrison accidentally getting Miz disqualified, which gave the Raw brand a draft pick in the 2009 WWE draft. The pick was then revealed to be The Miz and retaliated by subsequently attacking Morrison, ending their partnership and thus turning John Morrison into a fan favorite.

Miz challenged John Cena to a match on the April 27 episode of Raw, but as Cena was out due to injury, Miz claimed an unofficial win via forfeit and continued to do this over the following weeks, until Cena returned and defeated him in a singles match at The Bash in June. It would also be around this time where he would develop his new finisher, the Skull-Crushing Finale, and catchphrase: "Because I'm The Miz... and I'm awesome!" On the August 3 episode of Raw, The Miz lost to Cena in a lumberjack match, which meant that, in storyline, he was banned from the Staples Center, the Raw brand and SummerSlam. The following week on August 10, Miz competed under a mask as The Calgary Kid and won a Contract on Pole match against Eugene, earning a contract in storyline, and revealing himself by removing his mask afterwards.

Around this time he changed his in-ring attire from shorts to trunks, and he gained a new entrance theme "I Came to Play", performed by the band Downstait.

Miz formed a tag team with Big Show — later dubbed "ShoMiz" — and on the February 8 episode of Raw the two defeated D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) and The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk and Luke Gallows) to become the Unified Tag Team Champions.

At Extreme Rules on April 25, ShoMiz would take part in a tag team gauntlet match, and would make it to the final two teams, but were eliminated by The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd). The next night on Raw, ShoMiz lost the Unified Tag Team Championship to The Hart Dynasty, resulting in Big Show turning face by attacking Miz after the match, bringing an end to the team.

On July 18 at Money in the Bank, The Miz won Raw's Money in the Bank ladder match to win a contract for a WWE Championship match that he could utilize at any time. Over the next few weeks, The Miz made various, unsuccessful attempts at cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on the WWE Champion Sheamus.

On the November 22 episode of Raw, he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract following a successful WWE Championship defense by Randy Orton against Wade Barrett to become the new WWE Champion. The following week, Miz made his first successful title defense, defeating Jerry "The King" Lawler in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match after interference from Michael Cole.

On the Raw after Elimination Chamber, The Miz and John Cena were paired together by the Anonymous Raw General Manager to challenge The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The Miz and Cena were successful in winning the titles, but lost them back to Corre immediately afterward in a rematch after The Miz turned on Cena. This made their 9-minute reign the shortest in the championship's history.
In the main event of WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, The Miz successfully defended the WWE Championship against Cena, following interference from The Rock, who then attacked Miz afterwards.

At Extreme Rules on May 1, The Miz lost the WWE Championship to Cena in a triple threat steel cage match, also involving John Morrison, ending his reign at 160 days.

On the August 22 episode of Raw, Miz and R-Truth attacked Santino Marella before his match. They then cut a promo agreeing there was a conspiracy in the WWE keeping both of them out of the main event picture, and declared they would, together, seize any future opportunity. They began referring to themselves as "The Awesome Truth".

He also appeared as a guest star in a March 2012 episode of Psych.

At Raw 1000, Miz defeated Christian to win his first Intercontinental Championship. Losing the championship to Kofi Kingston on the October 17 episode of Main Event ending his reign at 85 days.

He captured the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Barrett at the WrestleMania 29 pre-show on April 7, only to lose the title back to him the following night on Raw.

At Battleground on July 20, Miz won a battle royal by lastly eliminating Dolph Ziggler to win the Intercontinental Championship for the third time. At SummerSlam on August 17, Ziggler defeated Miz to recapture the title.

At Night of Champions on September 21, Miz defeated Ziggler to regain the Intercontinental Championship, only to lose the title to Ziggler in a rematch the following night.

At the 2014 Survivor Series on November 23, Miz and Mizdow won the WWE Tag Team Championship by winning a fatal four-way match against defending champions Gold and Stardust, The Usos and Los Matadores. On the December 29 episode of Raw, Miz and Mizdow lost the titles to The Usos.

After Mizdow began to get more attention from the audience, Miz relegated Mizdow to his personal assistant out of spite. Miz and Mizdow then competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31 on March 29, which Miz failed to win after being eliminated by Mizdow, dissolving their partnership. On the April 20 episode of Raw, Miz defeated Mizdow in a match where the winner retained the Miz brand, with help from Summer Rae.

On the Raw episode post-WrestleMania 32, Miz won the Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time, after his wife Maryse made her return to WWE and distracted Zack Ryder by slapping his father, thus becoming his manager in the process, where the two then became an on-screen power couple. At No Mercy on October 9, Miz lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ziggler in a title vs career match after Maryse and The Spirit Squad (Kenny and Mikey), were ejected from ringside, ending Miz's reign at 188 days.

On the 900th episode of SmackDown on November 15, Maryse helped Miz to win the championship for the sixth time. On the January 3, 2017 episode of SmackDown, Miz lost the Intercontinental Championship to Ambrose despite interference from Maryse.

At 2017 Extreme Rules on June 4, Miz defeated Ambrose to win the Intercontinental Championship for the seventh time.

On the June 19 episode of Raw, Miz allied himself with Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, a team which would later be dubbed "The Miztourage".

November 20 on Raw, Miz lost to Roman Reigns in an Intercontinental Championship match, ending his title reign at 169 days.

After taking a hiatus, Miz returned in January 2018, and won the Intercontinental Championship back from Roman Reigns during the 25th Anniversary of Raw, beginning his eighth reign with the championship. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Miz lost the Intercontinental title to Seth Rollins in a triple threat match also involving Finn Bálor, suffering his first pinfall loss at WrestleMania.

In 2018, Mizanin and his wife Maryse began starring in a USA Network reality television series titled Miz & Mrs.

On April 16, during the Superstar Shake-up, Miz was traded to the SmackDown brand. Later that night in his final match for Raw, Miz teamed with The Miztourage, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn against Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor, Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode and Bobby Lashley in a ten-man tag team match; his team lost after The Miztourage walked out on him, officially ending their partnership.

Miz would begin to pursue a partnership with Shane McMahon, with the promise of becoming the "best tag team in the world". McMahon would finally agree to the team proposal in December, turning Miz into a fan favorite for the first time since June 2014. The duo would then challenge SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus to a title match at the 2019 Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 27, 2019, in which Miz and McMahon would defeat the duo to become the new champions. However, at Elimination Chamber on February 17, Miz and McMahon lost the titles to The Usos, ending their reign at 21 days.

The duo failed to regain the titles from the Usos at Fastlane on March 10. After the loss, McMahon turned on Miz by attacking both him and his father at ringside, turning McMahon into a villain. This led to a falls count anywhere match at WrestleMania 35 on April 7, where Miz would dominate, but ultimately lost.

On the January 3, 2020 episode of SmackDown, Miz blindsided Kofi Kingston after being defeated in a match against him and subsequently lashed out at the audience after being booed, turning heel for the first time since 2018. Later that night, he reunited with his former tag team partner John Morrison, who made his return to WWE.

At Hell in a Cell on October 25, Miz defeated Otis to win the Money in the Bank contract. Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on December 20 at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event during a TLC match between AJ Styles and the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, making the match a triple threat in the process, but was unsuccessful as McIntyre retained his title. However, on the December 28 episode of Raw, Miz had the contract returned to him as the cash-in at TLC was ruled invalid due to Morrison cashing in the contract on his behalf (as only the contract holder himself can cash it in).

At Elimination Chamber on February 21, Miz would successfully cash his Money in the Bank contract on WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, after McIntyre was assaulted by Bobby Lashley, starting his second reign with the WWE Championship. Miz would go on to lose the championship to Lashley on the March 1 episode of Raw, ending his reign at only eight days.

On the Day 1 episode of Raw, Miz reunited with former tag team partner R-Truth in a winning effort against The Judgment Day (represented by Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh). On Night 1 of WrestleMania XL on April 6, Truth climbed the ladder and retrieved the Raw Tag Team Championship to win the titles, giving Miz his first title win since 2021.

The Miz's finisher, per the reality television and Hollywood tie-ins to his character, is a full nelson facebuster dubbed the Skull Crushing Finale. He originally performed a Swinging Inverted DDT dubbed Mizard of Oz that he developed into a running knee lift followed by a neckbreaker slam, named the Reality Check, before abandoning them both and adopting his new finisher in mid-2009.

Mizanin married his longtime girlfriend, Canadian fellow WWE wrestler Maryse Ouellet, in The Bahamas on February 20, 2014. Their first daughter, Monroe Sky Mizanin, was born on March 27, 2018. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Austin, Texas. During WWE's Elimination Chamber event in February 2019, the couple announced that they were expecting their second child in September. In August 2019, they moved permanently to Thousand Oaks, California. Their second daughter, Madison Jade Mizanin, was born on September 20, 2019.

This skin was made for me by Toosty.