# Rachel Miner

Rachel Miner (born July 29, 1980) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut in Woody Allen's Alice (1990), and came to prominence with her portrayal of Michelle Bauer on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light (1990–1995). Her other film credits include Bully (2001), Haven (2004), The Black Dahlia, Penny Dreadful (both 2006), and In Their Skin (2012). Outside film, Miner is known for her recurring portrayals of Dani on Showtime's Californication (2007–2008), Dawn Trager on FX's Sons of Anarchy (2011–2012), and Meg on The WB's Supernatural (2009–2020).

## Background

Miner is the daughter of director and producer Peter Miner and the granddaughter of director-producer Worthington Miner and actress Frances Fuller. She attended New York's Professional Children's School. In a 1993 interview, Miner named Jodie Foster as the actress she most admired, and expressed the hope that she might have the opportunity to tackle a similar range of roles.

## Acting career

Miner's television credits include Vickie in Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift (1990), Michelle Bauer on Guiding Light (1990–1995), 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 film was based on the murder of Bobby Kent. 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'. 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."
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. 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. It debuted at After Dark Horrorfest III, a horror film festival held in January 2009. The film was released on DVD on March 31, 2009.
From 2009 to 2013, Miner took over the role of Meg, 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. The character was eventually killed off later. 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 she "always adds spice when she appears". Similarly, Diana Steenbergen of IGN felt Miner played the role "with vicious flair" and "[conveyed] Meg's brutality well, right from the beginning". As time passed, she noted that the actress "has done well taking over the role". In 2020, Miner returned to Supernatural during the fifteenth season playing the character of a cosmic entity known as the Empty that takes Meg's physical appearance. Miner reappeared later in the season, reprising the role of the Empty.
In 2010, Miner starred alongside James Franco in the Grasshopper segment of Love & Distrust. The next year she was cast as Sgt. Hannah in the horror film 51, which began filming in April 2011 in Louisiana. The film was released in limited theaters as part of "After Dark Originals".

## Charity work

Since September 2017, Miner has been the executive director of the non-profit organization Random Acts.

## Personal life

In 1998, she married actor Macaulay Culkin, when they were both 18. The couple separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002. In 2000, Miner dated Brad Renfro during and after production of Bully.
Miner has been a vegetarian since age 9.
Miner was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2010. She has since become an advocate for representation of disabled characters.

## 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 | Frank the Bastard | Clair | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990–1995 | Guiding Light | Michelle Bauer | Recurring character 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 | Various characters | Episode: "The Orphan Trains" |
| 1999 | Sex and the City | Laurel | Episode: "Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women" |
| 2004 | NY-LON | Astrid | |
| 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 | Recurring character |
| 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, 2020 | Supernatural | Meg | 7 Episodes |
| 2009–2013, 2020 | Supernatural | The Empty | 3 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 |
| 2020 | Chicago Fire | Jennifer Davis | Episode: "Protect a Child" |

## Music videos

* Sunday, Sonic Youth (1998)
* Only One, Yellowcard (2005)