Celebrity Birthday: Nicki Aycox - 47

 

Remembering Nicki Aycox on her birthday. Nicki was born on May 26, 1975 and passed away far too young at age 47 on November 16, 2022. Her passing came after a long struggle with acute myeloid leukemia, which is a type of cancer in which the blood and bone marrow are affected. The body produces white blood cells that are underdeveloped and incapable of fighting off the cancer cells. Nicki documented her cancer fight on her social media pages. Rather than focusing on her struggle, let’s remember her for the entertainment she left behind.

Nicki Aycox Got Her Small Screen Start on Weird Science

Nicki’s first credited role was a single-episode appearance on the television Weird Science adaptation. In her guest starring stint, she played Tammy in the season 4, episode 22 installment, entitled Community Property. In the episode, Gary and Wyatt settle a dispute over the ownership of Lisa in a cyber court simulation.

Nicki followed up her Weird Science appearance with a few more television roles over the next few years. In 1997, she appeared in L.A. Heat and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Also in 1997, she appeared in two episodes of USA High and in one episode of Boy Meets World.

By 1998 Ms. Aycox was becoming a familiar face to television audiences and that helped her get some larger recurring roles. She appeared in three episodes of Significant Others. In the failed series’ only season, Nicki played a model named Brittany in episodes 3, 4, and 5.

Later, she also earned a recurring role on Providence, playing Lily Gallagher. Her seven episode arc started with season 1, episode 11 Pig in Providence and ended with season 1, episode 17 Heaven Can Wait.

In 1999, Aycox had single-episode guest appearances on Ally McBeal and The X-Files. 

In The X-Files season 7, episode 5 Rush, Nicki played Chastity Raines. The episode revolved around the murder of a sheriff’s deputy. Although a high school student is suspected, Mulder (David Duchovny) believes the killer is someone with super-human speed. As always, Scully (Gillian Anderson) tags along to provide exasperation and scientific rationale. Very entertaining monster-of-the-week episode.

Ms. Aycox would return to Chris Carter’s universe in 2008. In The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Nicki played Cheryl Cunningham. Cheryl was the second murder victim in the film, so Nicki’s appearance is brief.

Nicki Aycox Spent More Time on Feature Film Sets

Although she primarily spent her early acting career focusing on television, Nicki did appear on the silver screen in several feature films. In 1997, she played Gretchen in Defying Gravity. Later that same year, Nicki was seen playing an unnamed teen girl in Double Tap. Aycox was also cast in minor roles in the 1999 films The Dogwalker and Cruel Justice. She closed out the decade with a role in Crime + Punishment in Suburbia (2000).

After the turn of the millennium, Ms. Aycox took on bigger roles in films, including the 2002 film, She Gets What She Wants. In 2003, Nicki was seen in the made-for-TV Sci-Fi thriller, Momentum. The small screen movie starred Teri Hatcher and Louis Gossett, Jr.

Nicki Aycox Dives Deep Into Horror

Throughout the 2000s, Nicki explored a wide range of genres in film and television. She starred in a 2002 episode of The Twilight Zone (this version featured Forest Whitaker as the narrator). She also starred in Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003). She plays final girl Minxie Hayes in the prequel/sequel to the 2001 film.

Ms. Aycox was also seen in the 2004 historical horror film, Dead Birds. In this Civil War-era film, confederate soldiers go AWOL and rob a bank. Seeking a place to hide out, they invade a farmhouse only to find out that nothing is as it seems. It isn’t long before the thieves are confronted with their sins.

Nicki can also be briefly spotted in the 2007 thriller, Perfect Stranger, starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry.

Supernatural Casts Nicki Aycox as the First Meg Masters

Long before Rachel Miner took up the role of Meg Masters, Nicki started the role of the seductive demon. In these early five episodes, Meg seeks to seduce Sam (Jared Padalecki) with the intention of turning him dark. She encourages Sam to strike out on his own, forcing him to come to terms with his strained relationship with his brother (Jensen Ackles).

Season 1, episode 11 Scarecrow was the second-to-last episode to star Nicki as Meg. In the episode, there’s a big blowout between Sam and Dean over the search for their father. Ultimately, the brothers part ways and Sam “randomly” runs into Meg on the road. 

Although the demon using Meg’s body would eventually get exorcized and forced to inhabit a new body (explaining Rachel Miner’s appearance as Meg), Nicki did reprise her role in a later episode of Supernatural. In season 4, episode 2 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester, the brothers and Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) are confronted by the spirits of the people they failed to save in previous episodes. The OG Meg Masters is among them and eventually helps the brothers alleviate some of the guilt they felt over Meg’s death.

Nicki’s Post-Supernatural Career

Following her Meg Masters role, Nicki continued acting and starred in the horror sequel Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008), Animals (2009), Christina (2010), and Lifted (2010).

Ms. Aycox joined the cast of a short-lived TNT crime drama, entitled Dark Blue in 2009. Nicki is credited in all 20 episodes of the series, which also starred Dylan McDermott, Tricia Helfer, and Logan Marshall-Green. 

In 2013, Nicki sought out more movie roles, starting with the made-for-TV movie, Profile for Murder. Coming out in that same year, The Employer cast Nicki as one of several job candidates who are drugged, kidnapped, and held captive by their potential employer. The film stars Malcolm McDowell as the employer.

Nicki’s last two films were released in 2014. She starred in The Girl on the Train (not the Emily Blunt film of the same name) and Dead on Campus. Following her 2014 films, Nicki Aycox set aside her acting career to concentrate on her battle with cancer.