In others' words
Co-workers, friends, family
"I'm very proud of Rachel Miner. She's working in a show down at the Public Theatre. The funny thing is, originally they decided to move on and recast Rachel and get a Michelle who was sexier -- and now, here she is, playing these sexy parts in the movies. I think that's great. I'm just really happy for her." (Peter Simon, Ed Bauer on Guiding Light, quoted on Yahoo Soap City, 2002)
"We were having a lot of trouble finding Lisa, and I saw a lot of actresses." "... it's a very difficult role." "For an actor to do the role of Lisa, you have to be very brave, you have to be very courageous." "And she's just terrific." (Larry Clark, Bully DVD 2000/2001)
"Rachel locked into a zone and kind of became Lisa. I went up to her and asked, 'Are you OK?' and she looked at me with that look, so I backed off." (Larry Clark, Director of Bully, quoted in Us Magazine, 2001)
"Rachel Miner is a ... is a genius." "She keeps me on my toes, you know, when we're working together. It's really ... it's tough." (Brad Renfro, Bully DVD, 2000/2001)
"Rachel Miner is fantastic. What an artist she is. I'm really ... I was really impressed by her. From the moment I met her at the readthrough on, I've just been continuously impressed by her." (Daniel Franzese, Bully DVD, 2000/2001)
"Rachel is just a sweetheart." (Kelli Garner, Bully DVD, 2000/2001)
"At one point, I think she had 20 animals -- cats, birds, reptiles. She's really happiest taking care of others." (Natalie Portman, friend, Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank, quoted in Us Magazine, 2001)
"She's a good caretaker, and I think he (Macaulay Culkin) felt he could trust her more than a lot of people." (Sophie Hayden, Mrs. Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank, quoted in People Magazine, August 21, 2000)
"I'm not surprised [at the marriage]. I've never seen two people at that age who are so totally in love." (Austin Pendleton, Mr. Dussel, The Diary of Anne Frank, quoted in People Magazine, July 6, 1998)
"I wasn't surprised they [Rachel and Macaulay] got married. They were so deeply in love. They're still good friends. They just have different priorities at the moment." (Kieren Culkin, quoted on Canoe, interview by Louis B. Hobson, Wednesday, June 26, 2002)
"We still love each other. We both needed to take a step back." (Macaulay Culkin, Us Magazine, 2001, quoting from a 20/20 TV interview)
"I'm just so happy that I had her in my life and still have her [as] part of my life." (Macaulay Culkin, Us Magazine, 2001)
"She has 20 years of physical life on this earth -- but 40 years of experience. She brings that to her character. She's 17 years younger than me, but she's really sharp. She has a lot of experiences, a lot more than I do." (Joe Forbrich, Curt in Blue Surge, quoted in The Chicago Tribune, 2001)
"When you look at her on stage, sometimes you think she's 30, sometimes you think she's 13." (Robert Falls, Director of Blue Surge, quoted in The Chicago Tribune, 2001)
"I had no idea. I didn't know about 'Bully' or Macaulay Culkin or any of it. She was just 'Rachel' who was in town to do this show." (Steve Key, Doug in Blue Surge, quoted in The Chicago Tribune, 2001)
Journalists
"Rachel Miner is quiet and sweet, so she sticks out like a sore thumb in this crowd. The girl who played Bully's high school murderess doesn't have a criminal record or a habit or anything, so Rachel spent most of the shoot hiding in her hotel room 'looking for a quiet place.'" (David Reeves and Shari Roman, The Face, 2002)
"She cries when she sees a beautiful sky or the moon and the stars. At the end of Blue Surge, she sobs-very convincingly-and it breaks your heart." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"She's reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Elegant Universe (about string theory) and Lord of the Rings. She has a tattoo of a fairy on her lower back." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"She grew up on the Upper West Side. The Challenger explosion was a huge event for her because she wanted to be an astronaut. She was 6 and the head of the astronaut club." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"She has been compared to a dolphin." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"She has a clean record. She's rescued a bunch of animals." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"So maybe Rachel Miner isn't the best interview. But she's a very fine actress and a good human, and what more can we ask of her? Well, could she say something about Macaulay Culkin?" "She did. It was a good quote." (George Gurley, New York Observer, 2002)
"Rachel Miner is 21, but she has the body language of an eight-year-old and the intellectual language of a 35-year-old. As she sits with her cardy pulled tight around her, picking at her chipped nail varnish, she peppers her conversation with nervous giggles while remaining stoical on matters from September 11 to her two year marriage to Macaulay Culkin." (Jessica Cargill Thompson, Time Out London, 2002)
"If she has any regrets about her teenage life, it is not having graduated high school, though she is a dedicated autodidact who is currently teaching herself Latin." (Jessica Cargill Thompson, Time Out London, 2002)
"Miner has little interest in the 'pretty teenager' roles Hollywood regularly throws up, which would undoubtedly make her a much bigger star. She was attracted to 'Bully' by its honesty." (Jessica Cargill Thompson, Time Out London, 2002)
"Miner shows glimpses of Lisa's [Connelly from Bully] vulnerability, but projects intellectual curiosity, as well as an almost childlike love for life. She enjoys abandoning herself to a role, has traveled the world with her writer/director parents, adores both fantasy films like Harry Potter and foreign cinema, and gets over-excited about the "Bubble" lights strewn about the hotel room. It's easy to see how she ended up marrying her teenage sweetheart." (Jessica Cargill Thompson, Time Out London, 2002)
"... Hollywood's kooky indie princess." "... elfin-like actress ..." (Elle UK, First Word, edited by Cat Callender, 2002)
"Recounting with genuine astonishment how she won the Best Actress award at the Stockholm Film Festival [for Bully], the 'Former Wife Of' is clearly pleased to be beginning a new and exciting chapter in her life. She is a 21-year-old who has stood in the middle of a media whirlwind -- and survived. Even with a certain degree of innocence intact. Now it's time for 'Rachel Miner, Actress' to be recognized." (Glenn Waldron, i-D Magazine, 2002)
"Miner (looking stunning when we meet, with newly blonde hair and a golden tan) needed to frump up for the part [of Lisa in Bully]" (Glenn Waldron, i-D Magazine, 2002)
"Being Rachel Miner means becoming someone else, no matter the cost." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"She has a sweet, unselfish aura that compliments her glowing porcelain skin, full lips, and slightly frayed, off-tint blonde hair. (She dumped a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on her head. Yes, she realizes now that it wasn't a good idea.) (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"Truth is, she's no wide-eyed ingenue, Miner's been acting almost her entire life..." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"A bright ball of energy, she laughs breathlessly and a bit maniacally talking about everything from her obsession with reading to her refusal to accept George Bush as president. But when considering the public's customary reaction to art that threatens them, particularly her new film [Bully], she becomes serious and gently articulate." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"Miner firmly believes appreciating art isn't about outrage, paranoia, or insecure projection, but that it's about understanding." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"Plunging fearlessly into character is a desire Miner says she's had in one form or another since she was 2 years old and felt a call to act. She also felt a call to become a ballerina, a paleontologist, an astronaut, etc." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"Miner's father, a TV director and her mother, a writer, were a bit wary of Miner's ambition to act, because they knew it wasn't an easy path. But they were behind her. By the time Miner was 8, she had her own acting coach. By the time she was 9, she was a full-fledged child star with a role on Guiding Light." (Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, 2001)
"Rachel Miner scores a break-out performance as a murderous suburban teen." "Miner and her costars deliver astonishingly naturalistic performances." (Simon Dumenco, File Magazine, 2001)
"There doesn't seem to be a self-promoting bone in her body, and certainly her career path -- mostly roles in art films like Woody Allen's, Alice and Hal Hartley's Henry Fool -- has been mostly anti-mainstream." (Simon Dumenco, File Magazine, 2001)
"Bully came after a two-year break from acting." (Simon Dumenco, File Magazine, 2001)
"Ultimately, Miner was able to locate the love story in Bully, despite its hyper violence and banal evil." (Simon Dumenco, File Magazine, 2001)
"Impossibly fresh-faced and giggly, 21-year-old Rachel Miner fits no expectations -- neither of her role as a blank, amoral killer in Larry Clark's new movie, Bully, nor of the Guiding Light ingenue she was, nor of the 'child bride' tag she was saddled with after marrying Macaulay Culkin at 17." (Diane Vadino, Spin Magazine, 2001)
"With Bully, the bleached-blonde Manhattan native trades tabloid notoriety for a distinctly raw brand of indie cred." (2001, Spin Magazine, Interview by Diane Vadino)
"Miner is the best thing about the film." (2001, Spin Magazine, Interview by Diane Vadino)
"Miner ... opted not to meet the real Lisa, now in jail." (2001, Spin Magazine, Interview by Diane Vadino)
"In an age in which children, like sports cars, seem to go from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds, Rachel Miner is on overdrive." (Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, 2001)
"Tucked into a chair in the Goodman lobby along busy Dearborn Street, Miner's serenity contrasted wildly with the blur and racket just outside. The petite young woman with the luminously pale skin and intense expression is almost ethereally calm, radiating a confidence and self-possession that is the antithesis of the confused, troubled teens she plays in "Blue Surge" and "Bully." (Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, 2001)
"The image that sticks with anyone who meets Miner may be that of a combination of child and adult, of the gamin and the sage." (Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, 2001)
"The sight of Rachel Miner brings the word cherubic to mind. But despite her pale, round face, angelically soft voice and fluttery giggle, the actor best known for marrying Macaulay Culkin when they were both 17 -- and having since separated from him -- is no innocent." "Miner, 20, like Culkin ... began acting professionally when she was a child." (Sarah Saffian, Us Magazine, 2001)
"At 15, Rachel Miner was fired as troubled teen Michelle Bauer on Guiding Light - after six years (sic) and an Emmy nomination - because execs deemed her too young and virginal to handle mature story lines. Thus, it was a hoot too see Miner, now 19 and Mrs. Macaulay Culkin, give one killer performance as a 25 year-old-virgin (and damn proud of it) on a recent Sex and the City on HBO. Chastity rocks! And sometimes it even pays the bills." (Michael Logan, Logan RAVE, TV Guide Magazine, Oct. 23-29, 1999)
Reviewers
BLUE SURGE (New York)
BLUE SURGE (New York)
"But it's Miner (from Falls's Chicago production of the show last summer), giving a performance of admirable strength and determination, that holds the show together. With a percolating vulnerability beneath her knowing and experienced gaze, you can't help but feel for Sandy much the way Curt does. Sandy's rises and falls (frequently simultaneously) are hard to watch because of who she is and what she's doing, but it gives a vital perspective to the rest of the characters. Miner handles the transitions beautifully. (Matthew Murray, Talkin Broadway review of Blue Surge, 2002)
"... a dream cast. As Sandy, Rachel Miner has just the right driven quality, the makeshift toughness awkwardly hiding raw vulnerability. But she is not the whore with a heart of gold -- only an ordinary, battered human heart. Miner is spot-on, down to her brittle smile and overeager voice." (John Simon, New York Magazine, Blue Surge review, May 6, 2002)
"Rachel Miner beautifully brings out the vein of iron running through the hooker with a good head for business along with the perennial heart of gold. While Gilman's script specifies that Sandy should not be a knockout -- she is very much so." (Elyse Sommer, Curtain Up, Blue Surge review, 2002)
"... Rachel Miner as Sandy ... Sandy is instantly appealing, shapely in her red outfit, and with a sweet face and assured demeanor." "... and Miner hypnotically fascinating as a very young woman who has also had a rough life ..." "Miner is superb in the role throughout. Her line readings ring truthfully, with body language to match and easygoing charm. If I were a scout for a movie company in the old days of social drama and film noir I'd want to screen test her." (Wolf entertainment Guide, 2002)
"As the hapless teen-age hooker who changes the upwardly striving cop's life for the worse, Rachel Miner is especially impressive at conveying the underlying message here -- at the end of the tunnel it can be even darker." (Goings on About Town, New Yorker Magazine, capsule review, 2002)
"What makes this play so rich is Rachel Miner's nuanced performance. There is nervousness to her performance that belies the jaded persona her character is trying to affect. Her Sandy is a girl trying to be a much older woman, a t eenager forced to be an adult by circumstance and with Gilman's authentic dialogue, she weaves magic with her jittery white-trash accent." (cont'd)
"... a rising star fills the starring role ..." "... no match for Miner's brilliance." (Japhy, Japhygrant.com, blog Blue Surge review, 2002)
BLUE SURGE (Chicago)
"Blue Surge, Goodman's latest offering from wunderkind playwright Rebecca Gilman, has a lot going for it: masterful direction by Robert Falls, an amazing set by Walt Spangler, moody, evocative lighting by Michael Philippi, and a bravura performance by Rachel Miner." (cont'd)
"Sandy (the astonishingly talented Rachel Miner), also from reduced circumstances, is refreshing because she realizes that she is making the most of her life by being a prostitute...it's easy money. Miner makes us love her Sandy, who, in her own way, is the smartest and most realistic character in the play, a whore with a heart of gold and no illusions." (Rick Reed, Windy City Times, Blue Surge review, July 18, 2001)
"Miner brings a husky voice, heavy with pain, to her character's attraction to Curt. With subtle gestures and equal conviction, she conveys Sandy's youthful confidence and her feelings of shame." (Jenn Goddu, Digital City, Theatre review, 2001)
"The highlight of Falls' production is a powerful, enigmatic performance from 20-year-old Rachel Miner (who played Margot Frank in the recent revival of "The Diary of Anne Frank")." (Chris Jones, Variety, July 18, 2001)
BULLY
"... Marty falls in love with beautiful, dark-haired Lisa, superbly played by Rachel Miner." (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, UK, 2002)
"As Lady Macbeth we have Ali's friend Lisa (Rachel Miner)..." "If a star is born in "Bully" it may not be the slithery, snakelike Phillips, enjoyable though she is, but Miner, who impresses you most with the fragile, unstable shimmer of her expression..." (Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com, Bully review, 2001)
"Rachel Miner is outstanding as the infatuated, completely spaced out Lisa, her eyes glistening at the thought of a world without Bobby, yet betraying a complete innocence of the brutality and consequences of the deed which will make that world a reality." (Tom Grealis, RTE Entertainment Ireland, Bully review, 2001)
"Lisa Connelly ("Joe The King's" Rachel Miner, in a performance that's brilliant to the point of recklessness) is an ethereal young girl who can't stand the way Bobby treats Marty, with whom she has quickly fallen in love." (Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine, Bully review, 2001)
"This doesn't sit will with Marty's pregnant, deceptively fragile girlfriend Lisa (a standout performance by Rachel Miner), who turns into a scheming Lady MacBeth..." (Adele Marley, Baltimore City Paper, Bully review, 2001)
"Clark's film is given emotional gravity by its remarkable central quartet of performances: Bijou Phillips as Lisa's friend, Ali, Brad Renfro as Marty, Nick Stahl as Bobby, and particularly, the extraordinary Rachel Miner..." (Travis Crawford, Moviemaker Magazine, Bully review, 2001)
"The cast of 'Bully' tackles their roles with savage honesty. Miner and Phillips deliver heartbreakingly sad performances ..." "... a difficult artistic choice (the explicitness of their roles), particularly for actresses so young, but their work gives the film a shocking power it would otherwise lack." (Anthony Breznican, The Associated Press, 2001)
"Jennifer (sic) (Lisa) is played by Rachel Miner, who has a wonderfully spooky voice and a Bjork-like face that can look either angelic or demon-possessed." (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, 2001)
"Rachel Miner (CBS soap Guiding Light) is chilling as Lisa." (Tom Sander, Florida Sun-Sentinel, 2001)
"... the performances are strong (especially Miner, who makes the best of a marvelous ''Out damned spot!'' speech)." (Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald, Bully review, Friday, July 20, 2001)
"The entire cast of BULLY is terrific, especially Bijou Phillips and Rachel Miner." (Victoria Alexander, FILMSINREVIEW.COM, 2001)
"Of special note ... are the performances of Brad Renfro, as the tortured soul Marty and Rachel Miner, as his soul support, Lisa." (Chuck Schwartz or Paul Fischer, The Cranky Critic (Online), 2001)
Interview quotes excerpted from the following sources:
--Interview by George Gurley, New York Observer, May 6, 2002 (For complete interview, see LINKS)
-- Interview by Jessica Cargill Thompson, Time Out London, Feb. 27 -March 6, 2002 (in print)
-- Elle UK, First Word, edited by Cat Callender, March 2002 (in print)
-- Interview by Glenn Waldron, i-D Magazine, March 2002 (in print)
-- Interview by Ernio Hernandez, Playbill Online (2002, at the time of Blue Surge) (For complete interview, see LINKS)
-- The Face Magazine, UK (2002) (in print)
-- Interview by Tamara Ikenberg, Nylon Magazine, October, 2001 (in print)
-- Interview by Simon Dumenco, File Magazine, September, 2001 (in print)
-- Interview by Lori Blackman, CNN Showbiz Today Star of Tomorrow, Rachel Miner: Independent Spirit, August 29, 2001 (For complete interview, see LINKS)
-- Interview by Diane Vadino, Spin Magazine, August, 2001 (in print)
-- Interview/article, "The Faster Lane" by Julia Keller, LA Times (reprint from Chicago Tribune, July 25, 2001) (For complete interview, see LINKS)
-- Interview by Sarah Saffian, Us Magazine, July 23, 2001 (in print)
-- Interview, A Quick Chat with Rachel Miner by Sameer Padania, online interview. (2001) (For complete interview, see LINKS)
-- Bully DVD interviews (released 2001, recorded 2000)
Return to Quotes Page