Miller finds her path in acting

In 2003, Abby Miller (B.A. 2002) won the Student Leadership Award at the college’s Honors Day celebration. This April she returned to Honors Day to receive the Alumni Achievement Award in Theatre and Film.

“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years,” Miller said. “But then I see all that you guys have done, and I’m like, oh yeah, it’s been 20 years.”

A film and television actress in Los Angeles and represented by the prestigious Principal Entertainment LA agency, Miller currently stars on the Apple TV+ original series Home Before Dark. Prior to that role, she appeared as a series regular on The Sinner, where she played Officer Caitlin Sullivan opposite Bill Pullman.

Her turn as Charles Manson follower Mary Brunner on Aquarius came on the heels of her dynamic turn as Ellen May on the FX original series Justified. Her other TV credits include The Magicians, Imposters, Station 19, Grey’s Anatomy and Mad Men. She has also appeared in numerous feature films, such as the 2010 Sundance Selection One Too Many Mornings and the indie feature Congratulations, which she co-wrote.

“It’s just so trippy being back because, I mean, some of it hasn’t changed at all, like stepping into the Lab, which we used to have as the Studio Theatre,” Miller said. “It felt just like being back my senior year doing The Shape of Things, and it was really incredible. And then seeing the actors performing there, it really just felt like time stood still. But also seeing all the new additions you guys have worked so hard on, it’s really exciting, and it doesn’t feel like the same university. So it feels like home, but it also feels like I’m entering a whole new realm of possibility for these students, which gets me really excited.”

During her time on campus, she met with the performance faculty, had a question and answer session with performance students and met with the senior performers.

“When I was a student here, I only thought I’d do theatre. I didn’t know that my path would be so seriously filled with film and TV work,” she said. “That’s all I’ve done for almost 20 years until recently when I’ve started writing theatre. So if somebody had told me, like 18-year-old Abby, would I have gone to study theatre if I had known? But it doesn’t really matter. My path

Abby Miller

was my path. I met one woman who changed the trajectory of my life—Crystal Carson [who taught a workshop at UNL on auditioning for film and television]. She said you’ll make a living in L.A., and I went to L.A. But I had zero training [in film and television]. Like absolutely zero. I think I get very excited about talking to students because it’s a chance to give them a little bit more of a leg up than what I had.”

But whatever Miller lacked in formal training in film and television acting, she made up for it in belief in herself. “Part of it is from being told you can’t do something. I had that happen numerous times before I even came here,” Miller said. “My parents were very strict, for lack of a better word. And even me coming to the university was a big deal because I was from a really small town, and my Dad really wanted me to go to a different school that was smaller and safer. I think coming here, along the way, I had professors, directors, educators and students tell me I wasn’t good enough. When you hear that, you either allow it to take you down or you allow it to build you up and make you stronger. I was just one of those people that when

somebody told me I couldn’t do something, I was determined to do the thing.” Miller credits a six-month study abroad experience at Middlesex University London as life-changing. “It was incredible,” she said. “I really believe in like really shaking things up. It made me start to have to be present and listen and also to be able to trust myself. Like who do I want to be? What do I want to put out in the world? That was when everything shifted for me and changed my performing. I came back and really felt like I was a different person. I was ready to “I wanted to find a go wherever I needed to go and believed in myself.” community to grow as Miller can be seen on Netflix in Florida Man and has two plays she is getting ready to workshop. an actor and as a person “One is called St. Mary: Star of the Sea and the other one is and to prepare myself to called Trauma Play. I’m getting ready to workshop them at some point this next year, and I’m getting ready to go out with a TV make a living doing what pilot idea to try to sell it,” she said. “So it’s just a very busy time.” I love. And all of those She is grateful for her time at UNL. “UNL, for me, and I could say this to the students, you get things happened at UNL.” out of it what you put into it,” Miller said. “And for me, I wanted to find a community to grow as an actor and as a person and to prepare myself to make a living doing what I love. And all of those things happened at UNL. “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years.”  ■

School of Theatre and Film during her time on campus for Honors Day. Abby Miller (third from right) visits with students and faculty in the Johnny Carson