Rachel Miner

Rachel Miner

Miner at Salute to Supernatural Chicago 2012
Born Rachel Anne Miner
(1980-07-29) July 29, 1980
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1990–present
Spouse(s)

Macaulay Culkin (m. 1998–2002)

Worthington Miner (grandfather)
Frances Fuller (grandmother)

Rachel Anne Miner (born July 29, 1980)[1] is an American actress. She made her film debut as the young Alice in Woody Allen's Alice (1990), and later earned critical acclaim for her role in the true crime thriller Bully (2001). She has also had parts in The Black Dahlia (2006) and Penny Dreadful (2007), and played the recurring role of Meg Masters on The CW network's Supernatural from 2009 to 2013.

Career

Film and television

Miner's television credits include Vickie in Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift (1990), Michelle Bauer on Guiding Light (1989–1995), a guest starring role as Laurel in a Sex and the City episode, "Twenty-something Girls vs. Thirty-something Women" and Astrid in NY-LON.

In 2001, she starred in Bully. The plot follows several young adults in South Florida who enact a murder plot against a mutual friend who has emotionally, physically and sexually abused them for years. The film itself was based on the July 15, 1993 murder of Bobby Kent.[2] Bully received mixed reviews from critics and has a "Rotten" rating of 54% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 91 reviews with an average score of 5.7 out of 10. The film holds a score of 45 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 26 critics indicating 'Mixed or average reviews'.[3] Miner won an award at the Stockholm Film Festival for Best Actress.

In 2005, Miner portrayed a young woman on a journey to discover who she is and why multiple enemies want her dead in the action film Circadian Rhythm. The movie was critically ignored, and was poorly received in its few reviews. One reviewer stated that the film was a "directionless jumble of boring scenes strung together tenuously by a plot that feels like they were making it up as they went along," and that watching the film's allegedly ‘wire-fu’ fight scenes was akin to "being over at a friend’s house when they’re getting yelled at by their parents."[4]

She appeared in 12 episodes of the 2007 television series Californication, as Dani California, a reference to a character appearing in several songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2008, she appeared in "The Sacrifice", an episode of Fear Itself.[5] That same year she was also cast as the second lead in the psychological thriller The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations. The movie was filmed in Michigan and concluded filming in October 2008.[6] It debuted at After Dark Horrorfest III, a horror film festival held in January 2009.[7] The film was released on DVD on March 31, 2009.

Miner as Meg Masters in the Supernatural episode "Sympathy for the Devil."

From 2009 to 2013, Miner took over the role of Meg Masters, a recurring antagonist and demon in Supernatural. The writers wanted Meg's original actress Nicki Aycox to reprise the role in later seasons, but ultimately cast Miner for storyline purposes. Miner had not seen the series before, and only had the opportunity before filming to view a few clips of Aycox's episodes. She wanted to avoid merely copying Aycox's performance, but at the same time did not want to stray too far because it was the same character. However, she found that she did not have to alter her performance because the character was "written so specifically that the choices were very similar". Respecting prior depictions of Meg, Miner said, "I did take to heart that the character meant so much to people...That became something I took into consideration because I didn't want to disappoint people by taking away from what was originally there." Upon being asked to return for "Abandon All Hope...", she declined a film offer because it conflicted with the series' filming. For the eighth season the role was intended to be larger, but Miner revealed she was suffering Multiple Sclerosis,[8][9] which prevented her from doing more physical material. The character was eventually killed off later the same season.[10] Tim Janson of Mania gave Miner's portrayal of Meg a positive review, saying no one played Meg "with such dripping sarcasm as Rachel Miner". He felt that she "always adds spice when she appears".[11] Similarly, Diana Steenbergen of IGN felt Miner played the role "with vicious flair" and "[conveyed] Meg's brutality well, right from the beginning".[12] As time passed, she noted that the actress "has done well taking over the role".[13] Miner's incarnation of Meg received praise from Jordan Farley of SFX, as well. Farley wrote, "As a demon turned good (sort of) she occupies a moral grey zone that leaves her actions completely unpredictable even after year’s [sic] of guest appearances, a refreshing quality for a character to have. And she’s funny."[14] Ryan also liked Miner's portrayal of the character.[15]

In 2010, Miner starred alongside James Franco in the Grasshopper segment of Love & Distrust.[16] The next year she was cast as Sgt. Hannah in the horror film 51.[17] 51 began filming in April in Louisiana.[18] The film was released in limited theaters as part of "After Dark Originals".[19][20]

Theater

Among her theater credits are Jennifer in Laura Cahill's Naked Faith: The Way at Naked Angels in New York (1994), Margot Frank (replacing original cast member Missy Yager) in The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway (1997), Rivkele in Donald Margulies's adaptation of Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance at ACT Theatre in Seattle (2000), Sandy in Rebecca Gilman's Blue Surge at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago (2001) and at The Public Theater in New York (2002).

Personal life

A third-generation Miner in show business, she is the daughter of director and teacher Peter Miner and the granddaughter of director/producer Worthington Miner and actress Frances Fuller. In 1998, she married Home Alone actor Macaulay Culkin.[21] The couple separated in 2000[22] and divorced in 2002.[23]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Alice 12-year-old Alice
1990 Shining Time Station: 'Tis A Gift Vickie TV Movie
1997 Henry Fool Girl in Library No. 3
1999 Joe the King Patty
2001 Bully Lisa Connely Won – Stockholm Film Festival for Best Actress
2004 Haven Eva
2005 Man of God Karen Cohen Direct to-DVD
2005 Little Athens Allison Direct to-DVD
2005 Circadian Rhythm Sarah
2006 Fatwa Cassie Davidson Direct to-DVD
2006 Love & Debate Sophia Direct to-DVD
2006 The Black Dahlia Martha Linscott
2006 Onion Underwater Tara Short film
2006 Grasshopper Terri Short film
2006 Penny Dreadful Penny Deerborn
2006 The Still Life Robin
2007 Cult Mindy Direct to-DVD
2007 The Blue Hour Julie
2007 The Memory Thief Mira Direct to-DVD
2007 Tooth & Nail Neon Direct to-DVD
2008 Hide Betty
2008 The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations Jenna Reid Direct to-DVD
2009 Life of Lemon Esther Direct to-DVD
2010 The Love Affair Karen Hall Short film
2010 Love & Distrust Terri Direct to-DVD
2011 51 Sgt. Hannah TV Movie
2012 In Their Skin Jane
2013 East of Acadia Clair
2014 Elwood Lulu Palu Short film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990–1995 Guiding Light Michelle Bauer 50 episodes

Won – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Daytime Series (1992, 1994)
Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Daytime Series (1993, 1995)
Nominated – Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Child Actor (1993, 1994)
Nominated – Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series (1995)

1995 American Experience Voice Actor - Multiple Roles Episode: "The Orphan Trains"
1999 Sex and the City Laurel Episode: "Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women"
2004 NY-LON Astrid 7 episodes
2005 Bones Mary Costello Episode: "The Girl in the Fridge"
2006 Medium Emilia 'Lia' Purcell Episode: "Lucky in Love"
2006 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Valerie Whitehall Episode: "Rashomama"
2006 Without a Trace Julia Martic Episode: "Damage Done"
2007–2008 Californication Dani 12 episodes
2008 Fear Itself Chelsea Episode: "The Sacrifice"
2008 The Cleaner Sarah Gibbons Episode: "The Eleventh Hour"
2008 Life Squeaky Uhry Episode: "Canyon Flowers"
2009 CSI: Miami Tammy Witten Episode: "Presumed Guilty"
2009–2013 Supernatural Meg Masters 7 episodes
2009 Psycho Girlfriend Meagan Episode: "The New Girl"
2009–2010 The Online Gamer Beth 2 episodes
2010 Cold Case Anna Coulson Episode: "Two Weddings"
2010 No Ordinary Family Rebecca Jessup Episode: "No Ordinary Quake"
2010 Terriers Eleanor Gosney 2 episodes
2010 Army Wives Jasmine Wilkes Episode: "Deadly Force"
2011 Criminal Minds Molly Grandin Episode: "Today I Do"
2011–2012 Sons of Anarchy Dawn Trager 2 episodes

Music videos

References

  1. "United States Public Records, 1970-2009," database, FamilySearch (16 May 2014), Rachel A Miner, Residence, Hollywood, California, United States; a third party aggregator of publicly available information.
  2. State of Florida vs. Marty Puccio, CASE NO. 86,242 (official court documents). Florida State University Archives
  3. "Bully". Metacritic. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  4. "Circadian Rhythm". teleport-city.com.
  5. Edmonton Journal: New TV series dresses up local landmarks in fear and blood 4 June 2008
  6. Verrier, Richard (October 1, 2008). "Hollywood on the Huron: Michigan now a film mecca". Los Angeles Times.
  7. "8 Films to Die For". Horrorfestonline.com.
  8. reading-through-time-and-space likes this (2013-10-08). "The Fandom (de)Bunker • The rumor that Rachel Miner has Multiple Sclerosis". Fandomdebunker.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  9. "Rachel Miner (Meg seasons 5-8) Announces at Dallas Con that she has been battling Multiple Sclerosis (MS)". M.reddit.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  10. "TV News | TV Shows | TV Listings | Entertainment Weekly". Insidetv.ew.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  11. "Answerbag.com | Ask Questions, Get Answers, Find Information". Mania.com. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  12. "Supernatural: "Sympathy for the Devil" Review". IGN. 2009-09-11. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  13. "Supernatural: "Caged Heat" Review". IGN. 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  14. Jordan Farley on March 26, 2013 (2013-03-26). "Supernatural 8.17 "Goodbye Stranger" REVIEW | GamesRadar". Sfx.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  15. "The family business: Let's talk about 'Supernatural's' 'Abandon All Hope...' - The Watcher". Featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com. 2009-11-20. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
  16. "LOVE & DISTRUST". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  17. "SyFy and After Dark Films Unite for Saturday Original Movie Franchise". Broadway World. April 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  18. "After Dark Films heads to 'Area 51'".
  19. "After Dark Originals: First Details on 'Banshee' and '51'". BloodyDisgusting.
  20. Melissa Girmonte (April 25, 2010). "Bruce Boxleitner Slated to Star in SyFy's '51'". Airlock Alpha. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  21. "He's not home alone now. (teen actors Rachel Miner and Macaulay Culkin, both 17, announce their marriage intentions)(Brief Article) | HighBeam Research". Highbeam.com. April 13, 1998. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  22. Tyrangiel, Josh (August 14, 2000). "People: August 14, 2000". Time. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  23. Friedman, Roger (August 20, 2002). "Macaulay Culkin's Happy 'Ending'". Fox News. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
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