“Use your gift to tell stories and help humanity. Not to simply serve your ego.” — Kate Miller
I had the pleasure of talking with Kate Miller. Eleven days after closing a New York Off Broadway play at Bank Street Theatre, Miller was still feeling it. She was sleeping ten hours a night, waiting for her voice to return, working the stiffness out of her neck and hips. The role had required her to memorize 92 pages of dialogue and sustain the physical, vocal, and emotional demands of live theater after roughly two decades away from the stage. At 56, she had wondered whether she could still do it.
She could. But the question itself says something about where Miller is now. After nearly three decades moving among the Broadway stage, television, film, soaps, animation, commercials, video games, narration, and even motion capture, she has reached a point where proving she belongs matters less than it once did. The work still matters intensely. The scramble around it does not hold quite the same power.
“I don’t have as much to prove as I did when I was younger,” she says.
That is a hard-won position for someone who learned independence early. Miller was born in Cincinnati, OH and raised in a small rural West Virginia town, much of the time by her grandmother. She never knew her father and describes her childhood and relationship with her mother as difficult. Creativity became part of the terrain almost immediately. She read early, spoke early, played piano, spent considerable time alone, and remembers thinking of herself as an artist from the time she was conscious enough to think of herself as anything.
Around 11 or 12, a teacher put a script in front of her and simply informed her that she would be in the school play. There had been no audition. Miller did it, and something clicked. By 16, after her grandmother had passed away, she left home and went to Kentucky to work as a summer-stock apprentice. She later got herself into Interlochen Arts Academy for her senior year of high school, then found a college in San Diego that would mostly cover her education. By late 1991 she was in New York City. Four years later, on her first Broadway audition, she landed the principal role of Eileen in Moon Over Buffalo opposite Carol Burnett.
Miller still talks about getting hired with the surprise of someone who never learned to treat employment as an entitlement. “Oh my God, somebody wants me,” she says of the feeling that arrives with a yes. “Oh my gosh, somebody picked me. I’m good enough!”
There have been enough yeses to build an unusually varied working life and respected career. Her stage credits include Moon Over Buffalo and the Broadway revival of Amadeus, among other countless New York theater productions. On television, she has appeared regularly in series including most recently Hightown and Blue Bloods. Her voice career stretches across decades, from Debbie DuPree on Adult Swim’s Sealab 2021 to various other animation, commercials, narration, video games, and even motion capture. Miller takes particular pride in the range. She calls herself a “blue-collar working actor,” a useful phrase for a profession whose public image rarely accounts for the daily repetition of self-tapes, callbacks, preparation, waiting, and rejection.
“Actors audition for a living,” she says. “And now we’re doing it ourselves at home off the clock, even on the weekends!”
That working-class view of acting has also left her sharply aware of how the business has changed. Miller remembers an industry in which an actor without a famous name could still land a major Broadway role alongside the likes of Carol Burnett. She sees fewer openings like that now, as established stars move more freely between film, television, and theater and productions lean harder on recognizable names, mainly for profit and visibility. For younger performers, the pressure to build said visibility through social media adds another layer she regards with suspicion. She has little patience for attention as an end in itself.
For Miller, acting is still supposed to be about disappearing into somebody else. About serving the story. “Be creative, put yourself out there, but be pure about it,” she says. “Just be pure about it and be of good intent. Use your gift to tell stories and help humanity. Not to simply serve your ego.”
Her own relationship to ambition has changed along with the industry. Miller admits that when she was younger, achievement carried emotional weight beyond the work itself. She wanted approval, acceptance, the feeling of winning. Of being loved and celebrated. Feelings that were absent in her childhood. Now she speaks more readily about knowing instinctively when to pass on a role, sleeping enough, walking in the woods, gardening, swimming, spending time with her pets and her husband while dividing her life between New York City, Los Angeles and East Hampton. New York City remains part of her identity, but the constant intensity of City life no longer feels necessary or aligned with who she is now. She says she works and feels better with space and nature around her.
The shift does not sound like retirement. Miller is still auditioning, still recording, doing some writing, and still eagerly waiting to see where the next role comes from. Her 2026 return to the New York stage in The Bathroom Attendant was proof that she could walk back into one of acting’s least forgiving environments and carry the weight of it again. The fear was real. So was the satisfaction of getting through it.
After decades in a profession built around being chosen, Miller seems increasingly interested in what remains when the choosing stops defining you. She still wants the job. She still feels the thrill of yes. She is still passionate about the work. But she has also learned to live in the spaces between them, which may be one of the more difficult skills a working actor can acquire.
Yitzi Weiner: Kate Miller, it’s an honor to meet you. Before you dive in deep and talk about your amazing work, our readers would love to learn about Kate Miller’s personal origin story. Can you share with us a story of your childhood, how you grew up, and particularly the seeds and the genesis of all the amazing creativity that has come since then?
Kate Miller: Honor to meet you. Thanks for having me. Where to begin? Well, I grew up in a very small rural town in West Virginia. I was born in Cincinnati, OH but raised in West Virginia. I didn’t have a very good childhood; I never knew my father. Speaking of origin stories and pedigree, we’ll discover what my mix is here soon enough as we have our visit! (laughs) Yeah, like I said, I never knew my dad, and I was pretty much raised by my grandmother.
I did not have a great relationship with my mother. I had older siblings, but they were half-siblings. They were much older as well. I was always a very creative child and spent most of my time alone. I read very early and spoke very early. I definitely was an artist as soon as I had any kind of consciousness. I played piano and did all sorts of creative things.
I think it was maybe when I was 11 or 12 that I had a homeroom teacher who just threw a script in front of me out of the blue and said, “You’re going to play this part in the school play.” I hadn’t auditioned or tried out or anything like that; it was pretty much an assignment. Once I did it, went through it, and had the experience, there was really no turning back. If I was in sixth or seventh grade, that makes you around 11 years old, I guess.
By the time I was 16, I left home. My grandmother had passed away, and since I had a terrible relationship with my mother, I just wanted to get out of there. So I left and went to a summer stock theater in Kentucky called the Pioneer Playhouse. I was an apprentice and actually got to do some plays there, and I learned a lot. I literally ran away to the theatre! (laughs)
In between those summers being an apprentice/company member, I guess that was ’86 — ’87, I got myself into Interlochen Arts Academy, which is a very prestigious school. I did my senior year of high school there with a lot of well-known, wonderful actors like Jennifer Ehle and Elizabeth Marvel. Who else went there? Meredith Baxter Birney, Tom Hulce, K.D. Lang. That was great. That boarding school is my portal.
Then after that, I went straight to San Diego to college. I got myself into a school that would mostly pay for my time there; I got a free ride, to a degree. I had a great time in San Diego, living at the beach, and doing LORT D regional theater that was connected to our school. I was there with Jamie Foxx at the time.
Then I went to New York in late ’91, around December of ’91, and by 1995 I was on Broadway with Carol Burnett. I really haven’t stopped working since, but I took a big, long break from the theater until recently, because I was in Los Angeles splitting the coasts, doing more TV, film, and voice work than theater work. Plus, Broadway and New York Theatre in general has changed so much. So yeah, that’s my long winded origin story! Apologies. I tend to be tangential. (laughs)
Yitzi Weiner: You were planning to tell me the story of how you learned about your heritage.
Kate Miller: Oh, yes! Well, I love that you thought I was Jewish. A lot of people think I’m Jewish or that I’m Italian. I play a lot of Italians. A lot of people think I’m Mediterranean. I’m actually quite grateful to be ethically ambiguous!
I mentioned earlier I grew up in a tiny town in West Virginia and didn’t know my father. My mother told me he was this other person, but I’d never met that other person. When I was 47 or 48, I did 23andMe, just out of curiosity. It’s strange, not knowing what the other half of you is made of. So I thought I would find out. The results came back and to my great surprise I found out that I’m 48% Lebanese!
It made perfect sense to me, actually — my looks, my passion, my love of cooking and entertaining… also because the first time I ever ate hummus — which wasn’t until I was in my late teens or early 20s — I had an intense emotional reaction. (laughs) Something happened to me when I tasted it, like a bell went off. I kind of teared up and choked up, and I felt this wash of energy come over me: How have I never eaten this before?
I didn’t grow up with any kind of ethnic food in that tiny rural town. It was bacon, melted American government cheese, Hamburger Helper, scalloped potatoes, fried chicken — you know, basic beige Americana food. Then I got to college in San Diego: “Oh, Mexican food, (real authentic Mexican food!) this is awesome!” Some vegetarian and vegan friends would go to this health food shop and buy homemade hummus, and I was obsessed and immediately addicted.
Then I got to New York and tried falafel, and I lost my damn mind. Tahini? I drink the stuff to this day. It all made perfect sense after a while. And lamb — I didn’t grow up on lamb, and I love it. It’s one of my primary sources of protein. It’s the cleanest meat you can eat anywhere, by the way. It is not mass produced. Not factory farmed.
Yitzi Weiner: Have you been to Israel or other parts of the Middle East?
Kate Miller: Not yet, regretfully, and I desperately want to go. I need to go to Lebanon, and I want to experience Israel, but now is not the time to go over there, obviously. I hope the world pacifies at some point soon. Enough evil already. Enough of the my tribe is better than your tribe mentality. I really hope for peace — for Mother Earth, not just for the people on it.
Yitzi Weiner: Can you tell us the story of some of your first breaks into entertainment, your first opportunities?
Kate Miller: Well, that Broadway show was a lucky strike because it was my first Broadway audition, and it was with an icon, and I learned so much. I honestly feel like every single job that’s ever given me a “yes” is a lucky break. Still to this day, I feel like, “Oh my God, somebody wants me. Oh my gosh, somebody picked me.” Every single time someone says yes, it’s that little thrill, and I’m ever grateful. Really. It’s living the dream.
Yitzi Weiner: You probably have some amazing stories from your successful career, and I’m sure this is difficult to single out. Can you share with our readers two stories that stand out in your mind in your career?
Kate Miller: Wow, that’s going to take me a minute. I mortified myself meeting Paul Newman backstage when I was young during that first Broadway show. I mean that will never leave me. (laughs) I just didn’t know what to say, and I said something about his cooking devices because of Newman’s Own. I froze — my mouth and my mind just couldn’t figure it out. (laughs) I mean, I never get starstruck, but that meeting was like a polo mallet over my head. I met so many famous people during the run of that play, my Broadway debut with Carol Burnett. I met so many legendary, iconic stars. That’s an extremely positive memory. But we have to be careful not to make the chapter the whole book, don’t we?
I think for a negative one — I think you have to always remember the bad stuff too, because you learn from mistakes — I had been cast in an indie film that acquaintances and friends were doing very early in my career, in my mid-20s, about the same time I was starting out and doing Broadway. I was so distracted because I had gotten this play that I sort of put the film on a back burner, and I ended up being five minutes late to the first read-through. Everything I did in that week leading up to it just didn’t land quite right, and they fired me. It broke my heart more than anything because they were people that I was close to and whom I considered friends…
Nothing ever came of the film, really, whatever, but it’s funny: I think Missi Pyle ended up doing my role, and the great Miriam Shor was in it with me, and we still see each other now and then around the way. That’s a negative memory that I remember often that I wish I could go back and do a little differently. Although sometimes I think about it and I go, “I really didn’t do anything that horrendous.” But it was still a painful, disappointing experience. And I have never been late to anything ever since!
Yitzi Weiner: This is my next question, though we kind of addressed it already: sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a funny, silly mistake that you made when you were first starting and the lesson you took away from it?
Kate Miller: Yeah. I was auditioning — I was very independent because I left home so early, and I never really asked for help. It’s still hard for me to ask for help. I was auditioning for a Shakespearean play, and I mispronounced a name. Only afterward, after I left the stage, did I realize that I had mispronounced it. This was so long ago I can’t remember the details.
I’m actually embarrassed all the time; you get mortified a lot. (laughs) Doing Amadeus on Broadway, I said a line incorrectly, I was supposed to be in labor having a baby and pulled a fake baby doll out from between my legs, and the angle was weird, and the whole audience ended up laughing. I was playing opposite Michael Sheen and he was incredibly angry with me. And I looked up to him so much.
There are so many moments from so many jobs. Countless! When you’re an actor, you are all out there. Your instrument is YOU. You’re raw; you’re exposing yourself. There’s no net in theater if you trip on a rug, or if you forget a line, or if you pull your dress up too high, or what have you. It’s rife for mortification, humiliation, and embarrassment. Sometimes you’re filming and you completely go up on your lines, and it’s the martini shot at the end of the day, and you’re holding everybody up because you keep messing up. It’s everywhere. It keeps you humble and makes you want to do better next time, all the time.
Yitzi Weiner: There’s a related idea that “no” is not rejection, but redirection. Do you have a story like that?
Kate Miller: That’s true. I definitely believe in that. I most definitely believe in that. I’ve seen it numerous times for myself and for my colleagues. There are all sorts of stories like that. I landed on the soap opera One Life to Live after I had auditioned for two other parts, and then they gave me an even better role. I booked a recurring lawyer on Law & Order after I had auditioned for literally years, when they had never given me anything. Every actor in showbiz has this story.
“Nos” are a seed planted for when the role is right for you. My husband just auditioned for a film, and it was for a different part, and they called and offered him another part. So he still got the job, but not the one he auditioned for. That’s all of us, you know?
Yitzi Weiner: That’s great. What has been the most challenging project or role you’ve taken on so far, and why?
Kate Miller: I think the gig I just finished, that play I just closed. My bar is raised rather high for a certain kind of experience, a certain echelon of things, and I knew it was going to be not quite what I was used to, but it was harder than I thought it was going to be. It was just so much harder: physically demanding, emotionally demanding, vocally demanding, energetically demanding, spiritually demanding, and both personally and professionally challenging.
I got through it, I did it, and I still did a good job with the role. I got great reviews and proved to myself that I could still do it — I hadn’t been on the stage in about two decades; it had been a long time, and I didn’t know if I could do it anymore. I’m prone to a little bit of stage fright, and my mind is not as sharp as it was when I was younger. Can I memorize 92 pages of dialogue and not mess up and get through it every night? It was terrifying.
That’s fresh in my memory. I’m still in recovery. That just closed at the end of August, mere days ago, and I’m still sleeping 10 hours a night, getting my voice back, and getting the kinks out of my neck, my back and my hips. (laughs) Yeah, that was extremely challenging. On every level.
Yitzi Weiner: Let’s talk more about your work. You have so many iconic properties; it’s endless.
Kate Miller: I have a joke that I’ve done everything except for adult films and infomercials. But this last play I did, she was a former adult film star, so I’m kind of teetering now — I don’t know if I can say that anymore! (laughs)
It’s been lovely working in almost every venue of this biz there is to work in. That is the thing I am probably the proudest of in my career: that I’ve done soap operas, I’ve done commercials — on-camera and voiceovers, I’ve done animation, I’ve done mocap (motion capture), I’ve done daytime, primetime, big Hollywood feature films, indie films, high-end theater, middle and low-end theater. Throw me in any scenario and my commitment to the craft is really all I focus on. I just want to do a good job, be good, execute my talent and fly.
I can’t feel good about myself unless it’s about doing good work. I’m very proud that I’m able to shift like that. The one place I really pat myself on the back is the fact that I’ve worked in so many venues of the business for this long.
It’s always about the role for me. Sometimes it’s about the paycheck of course and we all need the money, but you’ve got to go where you’re “called”. Where you’re inspired and when something resonates with you. I’ve never believed in being busy for the sake of being busy. I believe that it’s all one big ball of magic and alchemy, when a role or a job finally becomes mine. The right roles find you. Whether it’s a positive experience or a negative experience, if something calls you to do it, to play it, then there’s something that needs to be learned. I’m super witchy that way! I always listen to my instincts. Well, I try to anyway.
Yitzi Weiner: I see that you’ve been in a lot of really famous video games like God of War, Gotham Knights, Destiny, and Guild Wars.
Kate Miller: I had a big voiceover career in New York, but it was mainly commercials, promos, and narration. Then I went to LA, where there’s just so much more of that. I had gotten into animation when I was still in New York; I had booked Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo for Cartoon Network. Out in LA, there is just so much more animation, that whatever comes down the pike, when you’re a blue-collar working actor, that’s what you do — unless you don’t want to go to out of town to do a low rent kind of thing for months on end. I’ll pass on that! (laughs)
It’s changing now that I’m older and my priorities have changed. I don’t have as much to prove as I did when I was younger; sincerely, I don’t. And the business has changed so much.
Yitzi Weiner: I know for sure it has, but what do you mean? What are you referring to?
Kate Miller: It’s all too corporate now. A-listers take so much more than they used to. Major celebrity names never used to take television, and now they all do; even guest star roles. The whole totem pole has shifted.
When I was on Broadway, I didn’t have a name, I was a complete unknown, but I got a starring role in an eight-person cast with an icon. I don’t know that that would happen today. They usually want a name. Everything is about a name, but it’s hard to become a name anymore if there’s no room to make a name for yourself because all the names are taking the jobs. That’s number one.
Number two, they don’t pay what they used to. The strike really helped nothing. Everything is lowballed. They know they can go to Canada or Europe. They just know that there are so many actors who are desperate to work that they’ll take a job for scale. And scale is the bare minimum. It’s really tough out there, and it’s tough out there for people that have a name, too, people who have established themselves in the industry for decades. Less production factors in as well. Less residuals because of the streamers. Don’t even get me started on what Covid did to all of us in the industry and the fact that we all have to self tape now…
I keep joking that the union should put a moratorium on A-list celebrities. (laughs) If they’re going to do TV, let them have the series regular roles, but let the working class actors have the guest stars and the recurring roles. Not that we still can’t win them — I just had some recently — but pickins are slim — everyone’s a little spooked, I’ll put it that way. Los Angeles production has really shrunk. People are losing their health insurance. It’s a business. We have a union. There are too many actors out of work. Worthy actors with a ton of credits. It’s both sad and infuriating.
Yitzi Weiner: I’m sorry about that; I don’t appreciate that. For a person coming into the industry, is the answer to make a name for yourself on YouTube or TikTok, start there, and then try to leverage that?
Kate Miller: I don’t know. I’m of such a different generation. I think that content is just seriously screwing everything up. We have enough influencers. Artists used to be the influencers: musicians, poets, writers, novelists, good actors — those were our influencers. I don’t know what these things are or what people on here are doing now. It certainly isn’t soul work. They just seem to want attention, money and they clearly want their egos stroked.
When you’re a true actor, you’re called to it because you want to tell stories; you want to help humanity, you leave yourself while you’re doing it. The ego has to take a nap. Accolades can come, sure, but if that’s why you’re in it, then I don’t think you’re never going to be a good, meaningful actor. You’re not doing it for the right reasons; you’re doing it for your own self-interest, you’re getting high on your own supply.
If you have a dream, sure, make a movie. Put it on YouTube. Do some stand-up on the Instagram. Justin Bieber was on YouTube. We all know these wildly talented people that put themselves out on these accessible platforms. Do what you’ve got to do, but be creative and be pure about it. Just be pure about it and be of good intent. Make art!
Yitzi Weiner: You spoke about some of the new projects you’re working on. Is there anything else coming up?
Kate Miller: I did an independent film that was woman-made, directed and woman-produced, and I love the story.. I’m not quite sure where it’s going to land; I think it’s going to go around on the festival circuit soon, they’re trying to find a distributor. It’s a movie called TOX. I love it when women take the lead and tell a story that men most likely wouldn’t — brava.
Right now I’m just auditioning for a living. I had a callback for a DreamWorks project recently. It’s a waiting game. You audition every day; you never know when the next job is going to come. I just finished one days ago, so I’m okay for now and need to catch my breath for a moment. But you constantly self-tape, you record, and it just never stops. Actors audition for a living.
Yitzi Weiner: You did 41 episodes of Sealab 2021. Tell us a bit about that.
Kate Miller: It was one of the first cartoons ever on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, so that was fun to be in the vanguard at the helm of the madness that ensued going forward. They have some kooky stuff on there, and I think it’s subversive and great, and I had a ball doing it. I love that Adult Swim is still going strong. It was definitely adult, it was a little dirty, a lot edgy and I thought the writers were great. I think I was 30ish when I booked that gig; it was a very long time ago and feels like another lifetime, but those guys are great.
Yitzi Weiner: How do you compare and contrast your personal character, Kate Miller, with the Debbie DuPree character you played?
Kate Miller: She’s not entirely dissimilar! In any role we play as actors, there’s something inside of us that’s got to be very close to who we’re playing, or it won’t be believable. You have to find it in yourself. She was too smart for her own good, she was mouthy, she was funny, and she was feisty. I’m definitely all those things. (laughs)
Yitzi Weiner: This is our signature question. Kate Miller, you’ve been blessed with a lot of success, and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back all the way to the beginning when you first started, can you share five things that you’ve learned over the years that someone starting out today can really benefit from?
Kate Miller: Okay.
One: always be early.
Two: always have your lines memorized, even for auditions. Now they say you don’t have to — you’ll get the sides and it will literally say there’s no need to memorize, and sometimes time does not allow that. But if you are able to memorize, at least 80%, it really frees you up, and you can own it in a way you can’t if you’re distracted by looking down and worrying about what you have to say. If you know what you have to say, then you can be more honest. More focused.
Three: “nos” are literally redirects, to quote you from earlier, Yitzi! Don’t let them ever psych you out. There’s always going to be something that you really, really want that you probably won’t get. There are always more nos than yeses in this business, but it doesn’t mean you didn’t do a good job. It’s not a meritocracy; it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough or you’re not worthy. Everyone that’s doing this professionally is worthy — at a certain level. If you’re auditioning, being asked to read and be seen, if you get an appointment, they obviously think you have something to give. Focus on that, always. An appointment is as much of a win as a job is.
Four: PLEASE don’t forget to LIVE! Don’t let your ego and need to be successful control your life. I did that for too many years when I was younger — needing to prove myself, wanting the approval, the acceptance, and the win. The “fame”. We all do a little bit, because show business is what it is, the biz of show and of course you want to be successful. But successful can be many things. Now I want to be successful so I can work more and do my craft more. When I was younger, I wanted to be successful because I needed love, because I didn’t have enough self-love. Don’t let your ego rule anything about what you’re doing if you’re really on a creative venture. If you want to be an influencer so you can get free stiletto pumps and makeup and get a lot of likes and views, have at it; that’s a completely different career path, not what actors do.
Five: You have to know the difference between film, television, and theater. You have to be a very different actor in each one of those venues. I don’t remember who said this, but it’s a quote I take with me everywhere: theater is an actor’s medium, meaning we’re in control of the experience. Once that curtain goes up and the lights go down in the house, it is our project; we are in control of it for an hour and a half to two or two and a half hours. It’s ours.
Television is a producer’s medium. You still have to show up and act and do your thing, but you have no final say and zero control over the final product. It’s not as hard as theater — theater is the hardest and the most difficult — though TV and film are difficult too. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. with so many lines — oh my goodness the soaps were crazy hard: here’s 20 to 50 pages of dialogue for today, and here’s the next 50 pages for tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. being handed to you when you wrap at 7 PM or later! Be ready to WORK. If you really want to be an actor, know that it is hard work. It looks glamorous from the outside and on Instagram, but it is not. It requires a lot of time, discipline, energy, and effort.
Film is a director’s medium. You’re going to end up listening to a director more in the theater and on a film set than you are on a television set. Directors in TV sometimes give you emotional direction, but a lot of it is fast blocking: you stand here, camera shots, camera angles, all of that. Film and theater directors are invested in your characterization and character work. In a film, in the end, the director has the final say of what the product is. Once again, the actor doesn’t, but you still have to show up and do your thing. Those are my five pieces of advice.
Yitzi Weiner: On a personal level, can you share some of the self-care routines that you do to help your body, mind, and heart to thrive?
Kate Miller: Yes. I go for long walks; walks always calm me down. I’m a big bath gal, sweat-it-out person. I exercise, but not like a crazy person; I’m not at the gym two or three hours a day. That’s never been my thing. I used to dance, so I had enough of that for a very long time; now I’m a little lazy. I have a sauna, and I love my sauna. I do believe in a really good sweat.
I believe in sleeping seven to nine hours, going to bed at the same time, and waking up at the same time. I believe in not eating late; I don’t eat three hours before I go to sleep.
I do planks, yoga, lift a little, swim, and garden; I’m active. For self-care, that’s it: the woods, nature, walks, sweating, and the ocean. I’m out in Long Island in East Hampton now, and it’s sheer bliss for me.
Yitzi Weiner: Do you miss the City?
Kate Miller: We still have our apartment there, and we’re going in tomorrow. I love New York; I’ll never not be a New Yorker, but my nervous system can’t take it 24/7 anymore. I don’t have the energy. In my 20s and 30s I thought I would never leave, and I still haven’t left all the way, but I don’t know that I could do it full-time anymore. I grew up in West Virginia on 80 acres of land, and we have a lot of land here, and it’s just downright peaceful.
I’m more productive with my work here, too. I can memorize things faster, I sleep better, and I just feel healthier. My cat lost five pounds being out here; she’s happier, too! (laughs)
Yitzi Weiner: This is our final aspirational question. Kate Miller, because of your amazing work and the platform that you’ve built, you’re honestly a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? Because you never know what your idea can inspire.
Kate Miller: What idea? Hmmmm. Well, aside from storytelling, I think food brings people together. Anytime you feel tribal — too many people feel tribal these days — go read Ottolenghi and Tamimi. Go look through the recipes in Jerusalem. Go read all those cookbooks. Look at the love, despite everything that’s going on over there; it makes me want to cry.
Food — we all eat the same food. Look at the American South, the south of North America, the south of South America, the south of Italy — we’re all eating the same things, which means we’re all basically the same people. We’re all pink on the inside. Whether we look this way on the outside or worship this faith or that one, you just have to realize that you are a mere strand in a spiderweb in a world of billions of different kinds of people, and we all eat to stay alive. When you look closely and telescope in on the food, it’s all similar. Everywhere! If we’re all eating the same thing, how are we so different in the end, and why are we acting like we’re so different?
Yitzi Weiner: So true. So powerful. How can our readers continue to follow your work, watch any of your projects, attend your shows, and support you?
Kate Miller: I have a website that is in desperate need of updating, which I’m going to get on in the next week. Promise! (laughs) I hope I have it done by the time this article comes out.
There are a lot of other Kate Millers out there. Katie Miller in the unfortunate political realm. T.J. Miller’s wife changed her name to mine, (I think I have finally sorted that out with the help of the union and a lawyer!), and there’s a singer in Australia named Kate Miller-Heidke. Just Google “Kate Miller actress.” My website is KateMillerNYLA.com. I try to keep that up to date: my most recent demo reel is up there, my voice work is on there, and some articles. Just make sure you’re checking out the right Kate Miller on the internet. I had my wiki page taken down because there was so much incorrect information!
I’m not really into the “follow me on Instagram”; I’m not that gal. Of course I’m on Instagram, and I post about my work on there, and I even have a Threads account — that I look at once every six months. I’m so glad Twitter is over for me; I don’t deal with it. I’m barely on Facebook. It’s a different generation, and I have serious social media burnout. I think we all do. I’m so happy this is an actual written article. We need to read more. Go read a book!
Yitzi Weiner: Such a joy. Kate, I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. I’d love to do this again next year if you’re available.
Kate Miller: Thanks! The next time I land a good job, I’ll have my publicist reach out and let you know!
Yitzi Weiner: Amazing. Thank you so much, Kate. Have an amazing day.
Kate Miller: You too. Thank you for wanting to visit; it makes me feel seen and appreciated. I appreciate you! Have a great one! This was fun; I enjoyed it very much.
