Nicki Aycox, 'Supernatural' Actress, Dead at 47

Actress Nicki Aycox passed away this week at the age of 47, according to her family. Aycox's sister-in-law announced Aycox's death in a Facebook post on Thursday, while Comic Book Resources reported that Aycox suffered from Leukemia. Fans are mourning Aycox on social media and looking back on some of her best work.

Aycox was best known to many fans for playing Meg Masters on Supernatural in Seasons 1 and 4. She had been retired from acting for some time before her death on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Her sister-in-law Susan Raab Ceklosky wrote: "My beautiful, smart, fierce, incredibly talented, and loving sister-in-law, Nicki Aycox Raab, passed away yesterday with my brother, Matt Raab, by her side. Nicki and Matt had a wonderful life together in California. She was definitely a fighter and everyone who knew her loved her."

Aycox was born in Oklahoma and found success in the entertainment industry at a young age. Born in 1975, she broke in Hollywood in 1996 with a role on Weird Science. From there, Aycox found lots of work on TV, but mostly one-off appearances in the years that followed. However, the nostalgia-driven media landscape made even these early appearances significant in some cases – for example, after appearing in one episode of The X-Files in 1999, Aycox returned for the 2008 movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

Aycox continued working steadily in both TV and movies through 2014 when she apparently retired from the industry. Other long-held roles included playing Brenda Mitchell in Over There, Christina Rush in Cold Case and Jaimie Allen in Dark Blue. On the movie side, Aycox played Grace in Perfect Stranger (2007), Lexi in The Girl on the Train and Danielle Williams in Dead on Campus. It's not clear when or why she retired from acting, but Aycox's Instagram bio describes her as a "former actress."

Aycox also tried her hand at the music industry as well. In 2015 she released her debut EP, Red Velvet Room, but never released a follow-up. Still, many fans know her best for her work on Supernatural as that show's long lifespan and die-hard fandom make it a very detailed cultural toughstone. In Supernatural: The Official Companion, Aycox said of her character Meg: "I think that when you bring a woman on that's going to be a powerful character, there's definitely going to be some sexuality put into the character. I added a lot of it on my own, but it was definitely in the script as well."