Rachel's Bio
Rachel Miner was born on July 29, 1980 in New York City. She grew up in Manhattan, the third generation of Miners in show business (for more on Rachel's family, etc., see our Stats page). She began acting at the age of eight, studying with respected children's acting coach Karen Leigh Anthony. At nine she appeared as the young Mia Farrow in Woody Allen's Alice (though her credit reads Alice age twelve).
Her reputation among friends and coworkers is as a caretaker, a nurturer. She is an animal lover, a vegetarian since childhood and has rescued and cared for many stray animals over the years, eventually getting most of them adoptive homes. She has been described by those who know her as sweet, sharp, intelligent, talented, experienced, both youthful and wise beyond her years (for more glimpses into who she is and what others think of her see our Quotes page and also Links to interviews, etc.).
Rachel attended Professional Children's School where she met, dated and fell in love with her (then future and now ex) husband, famed child actor Macaulay Culkin. Though many people first heard of her when she and Macaulay married at the age of seventeen (and subsequently separated and divorced) she had already appeared as Michelle "Bert" Bauer on the Daytime Soap Opera, "Guiding Light" for several years (1990 -1995). She had also guest starred as Vickie in "'Tis a Gift" the "Shining Time Station" children's special on PBS (1990) and acted on stage as Jennifer in Laura Cahill's The Way at Naked Angels (1994).
While on "Guiding Light" Rachel was nominated for a Daytime Emmy, two Soap Opera Awards and a Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award and she won three Youth in Film (or Young Artist) Awards for her role as Michelle (see Awards page for details).
In 1997 she was cast as Margot Frank in the Wendy Kesselman adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" directed by James Lapine and starring Natalie Portman as Anne. During the Boston run of the play Rachel was struck by a car on her way to a matinee just two weeks before the play was scheduled to open on Broadway. After being hospitalized with a broken leg she was unable to go on as Margot for several months. However, she did attend the Broadway opening (on crutches) with her date, Macaulay, and she later rejoined the cast. It was during the Broadway run of the play that her engagement to "Mack" was announced. The show closed in June of 1998, shortly before the wedding, which took place on June 21st.
Her Playbill bio reads: "She is honored to carry on a family tradition by being the third generation to play on Broadway."
The day after the wedding she filmed a small, but memorable role in Frank Whaley's Joe the King. Dividing her time between married life and career, Rachel next appeared as a guest star in the Sex and the City episode "Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women" (1999). Though only nineteen she played Laurel Harris, a twenty-six year old "twenty-something girl" who hero-worshipped Carrie.
The only professional appearance made jointly by the two young marrieds was in the Sonic Youth music video, Sunday. Rachel then made the move to regional theatre, originating the role of Rivkele in the Donald Margulies adaptation of Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance, directed by Gordon Edelstein at A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) in Seattle (2000).
Also in 2000 Rachel began shooting her first costarring role in a feature film, playing Lisa Connelly, opposite Brad Renfro as Marty Puccio, in Larry Clark's Bully, for which she won Best Actress at the Stockholm Film Festival. The award reads, "With great artistic tact she combines innocense [sic] and evil in a modern version of Lady Macbeth."
By the time she was working on Bully, Rachel and Mack were separated. Though it was unclear at first whether they would reconcile, eventually the two divorced. Both have stated in interviews over the years that they have remained friends and neither regrets their marriage.
When Bully opened in the summer of 2001, Rachel was in Chicago starring in Rebecca Gilman's play, Blue Surge, directed by Robert Falls at The Goodman Theatre. She originated the role of Sandy, a seventeen year old prostitute, and played it again the following year at the Public Theatre in New York City. Her heartbreaking performance as Sandy drew many rave reviews. During the run of the play she turned twenty-one.
In 2003, she played Cherie in Bus Stop (opposite Anson Mount as Bo Decker) for Voice of America and L.A. Theatreworks. The production was recorded onstage across two nights in front of live audiences in Washington, DC with a full cast and a Foley Artist (sound effects).
After filming a supporting role in Frank E. Flower's Haven, she traveled to London where she spent several months across the winter and spring of 2003-2004 shooting the seven episode British television series, NY-LON, playing Astrid, the wild, partying best friend of series lead Rashida Jones. After some additional shooting in NYC, the series aired in the UK in 2004 and eventually in the US on BBC America (2005).
Also in 2004 Rachel appeared as Ryan Key's girlfriend in the Yellowcard music video, "Only One" and was one of many "rising stars" in the Abercrombie and Fitch Christmas 2004 magazine.
Most recently concentrating on films and television, Rachel seems to be dividing her time between New York and Los Angeles (when not on location in some other part of the world, such as London, Cayman Islands, Bulgaria, Argentina).
She has a long and growing list of Independent films, including (as of this writing): The Blue Hour, Circadian Rhythm, Cult, Fatwa, The Guy in Row Five, Hide, Little Athens, Man of God, The Memory Thief, Penny Dreadful, The Still Life, Thanks to Gravity, Tooth and Nail, as well as the occasional bigger budget feature (like Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia). In these films she plays roles ranging from supporting to costar and star. In 2005 and 2006 she also guest starred on several prime-time dramas: Bones, CSI, Medium and Without a Trace, and shot a few short films: Grasshopper (with James Franco) and Onion Underwater, both AFI thesis films (for a full list of Rachel's roles, as well as new projects, check out the Credits page).