Interview with Colleen Elizabeth Miller
- by Vick Silkenpen
Movie Critic
This month, lucky Vick got to interview the sexy, talented, “semi-famous” actor Colleen Elizabeth Miller. Miller lives in Stillwater, OK, and travels for her scenes in some thrilling upcoming films.
Q: So, you prefer the name Colleen Elizabeth Miller?
A: There actually is a semi-famous actress from either the 30s or 40s named Colleen Miller. So, if you Google Colleen Miller, she comes up before me, and we don’t want that to happen!
Q: Are you a working “actress” or “actor”?
A: It’s whatever headspace I happen to be in at that exact moment. Sometimes I say ‘actor’ because I want more things to be equal.
Q: When in your life did you know you wanted to act?
A: I literally always wanted to be an actress since as far back as I can remember. I had more in my heart to be doing stand-up comedy, to have my own show, like Lucille Ball. That was the dream goal. Then I got into improv comedy. My dad told a story about how, when I was like three or four, instead of asking to be a princess for Halloween, I asked to be Charlie Chaplin. And he said I impersonated him as the perfect drunk! (Laughs) When I was only four, but that’s when he said he knew I was going to be an actress.
Q: Any more training?
A: I majored in theater and got my BFA in acting. And then after I graduated from college, I moved to Chicago, then kept training and took classes with some people from Steppenwolf. And then also started doing improv with Second City and Improv Olympic.
Q: Did you start picking up commercials there?
A: I did mostly theater in Chicago and improv shows at just like local places. I got an agent after graduation, and I got a couple of auditions, but there just wasn’t that much stuff filming there. The first big show that started filming there was Prison Break. I started going into the indie film world and started doing special effects makeup. We’re talking like VERY indie; I wasn’t getting paid, and the movies would take like two years to film since it was like, “Hey, you guys wanna film this weekend? “Okay, yeah, let’s go do it!” Sometimes I would get a part in these indie films. But it wasn’t really until I moved to L.A., about 10 years after I graduated, that I started actually getting REAL films and commercial work. And I say “real” meaning as it happened with a production company. Or like, my agent got it for me, as opposed to me just meeting somebody at some convention. And then like, “We’re making a movie. You wanna come help for free?”
Q: Does your agent get you all of your auditions?
A: No, there are casting websites. The main one for TV and film is called Actors Access, and then the main one for commercials is Casting Networks. So, basically, the casting director for the project will post it on these two sites, and agents will have access to it. When the agent sees the breakdowns that describe the available roles, if she has people on her roster who fit those, she submits your headshot and reel, and the casting director goes through all of that and selects who they actually want to call in for an audition.
Q: What are some of your other movies that are still available online?
A: I was in a western movie, which is actually the third part of a trilogy called The Guardsman. We shot that in southern Oklahoma. With the same people, I made a shark movie about a shark in a lake. These are like fun, action movies. And then I did just have an indie come out, which is actually a very dear drama film I shot in Chicago with some of the people that I actually started making indies with. It’s called The Empty Church, and that just came out on Amazon, too.
Q: That was a drama, but do you seek comedic roles?
A: I tell my agent to seek out comedy roles, but lately, to be honest, I seem to be getting more drama auditions, and I do feel there’s a lot more drama television being made than comedy. I feel in the comedy world, somebody will get a show, and then they cast all their friends in the bit parts, so it’s kinda hard to break into it, I guess. The auditions are few and far between for those. But yeah, my ultimate goal would be to be on a sitcom or a half-hour comedy.
Q: Where do you see yourself in the future?
A: Wishful hoping, I will be a series regular on a comedy show. Hopefully, playing like a weirdo, crazy, wacky character. ’Cause that’s what I’d like to do — definitely a character actor.
Q: You live here in Stillwater, Oklahoma, but do you go in and out of this town regularly?
A: Yes, I say I’m nomadic now because I really don’t have my own place. And my belongings have been in a storage unit in Los Angeles since COVID. My longest stint has been here in Stillwater with my pet black cat, Lucifer. He found me; he came up on the porch, and I started feeding him.
Q: To back up a bit, was there a certain actress who was influential to you?
A: It was Lucille Ball first, but then, like really like hardcore actress Kathy Bates. And I saw Misery at probably way too young of an age, and I just was like, “Holy damn! I wanna play a character like that!”
Q: Okay, now let’s talk about Spider – Noir, where you have this role in which you play Gertrude, and you get to open the entire series with the first episode, sitting in a dive bar in New York City with Nicolas Cage. How did that go?
A: When they bring you to set, they usually have a holding area for the actors, and your stand-ins are in there on the actual set for the lighting and camera guys and everything. The holding area this time was in the old hotel’s lobby, where we were shooting. The show takes place in New York, but we were shooting in Los Angeles. Usually, Cage would be holding in his own area, and I thought, “Okay, cool,” and he was sitting in his chair and very much in his own zone. He wasn’t giving off a negative “Don’t talk to me.” I guess, as another actor, I’m like, I’m not gonna go up and talk to him because I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me. I’m about to start shooting like one of the biggest things in my life; I need to focus! You know what I mean? So, I didn’t say anything to him, but of course, I sat there like stone, you know, and then kept moving my eyes up and staring at him. You know, ’cause you can’t help it. You’re thinking, What’s he doing? What’s he thinking? Oh my gosh, is he looking at me?
And then the director popped in and said, “Nick, if you want to like improv a little, you can.” And he’s like, “Okay. Okay, great.” And then I think I improved a little, and we just did it a couple of times, and then it was over. The two guys had a much longer dialogue, and then I came in at the end of the scene. I feel like we only did like three or four takes.
Q: You had to remain quiet once you knew what this was about?
A: I had to sign an NDA. Mainly, it was that you couldn’t say any of the characters’ descriptions or the plot. But then even when we were on set, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures. Every day on set, they’ll give you what they call “sides,” and those are like mini scripts of just what you’re shooting that day. So, they actually didn’t give us a copy of the script we could keep; we were only allowed to open it for the reading, and then it self-destructed! Then they gave us the “sides” while we were on set, but we had to give them back at the end; otherwise we would’ve been in deep, deep trouble at the end of the day. Very secretive!
Q: When you did Better Call Saul, you had just barely missed seeing someone else who was also acting in that series and in the same episode, didn’t you?
A: Oh, yes, yes, yes! Carol Burnett! I literally got picked up from the airport and um by the set drivers and uh they were like, “Well, you just missed Carol Burnett! We just dropped her off and then picked you up immediately after.” Literally, I think she got out of the car, they drove to my terminal, and then I got in. And I was like “Oh, my God!” Because she was also one of my heroes, y’know? But I was like, “Hey, at least I’m in the same show as her.” And that’s probably as close as I’m ever gonna get.
Q: You mentioned The Lowdown. Are you at a point where you’re allowed to talk about your appearance in this?
A: I can say I’m going to be in Season 2, Episode 2. I can’t give away anything about the plot or any of the characters or anything.
Q: Are you allowed to talk about your scenes with Ethan?
A: Yes, I wasn’t told I couldn’t. My scene is just Ethan Hawke and me, and that was pretty sweet. He was very charming and very cool.
The Gayly online. 7/17/26 @ 6:07 p.m. CST.