Nicole Blonsky (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and internet personality. She is known for playing

Tracy Turnblad ''Hairspray'' is a 1988 American comedy film written and directed by John Waters, starring Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, Leslie Ann Powers, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Michael St. Gerard, and Ruth Brown. ''Hairspray'' was ...

in the film '' Hairspray'' (2007), for which she won two Critics' Choice Awards and received nominations for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

and a

Screen Actors Guild Award Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

. Blonsky has starred as Willamena Rader in the

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

series '' Huge'' (2010), for which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination, had a recurring role as Margot on the series ''Smash'' (2013), and had roles in the films ''Geography Club'' (2013) as Therese and '' The Last Movie Star'' (2017) as Faith. She is a licensed cosmetologist.

Early life

Blonsky was born and raised in Great Neck, New York. She and her brother Joey are the children of Karen, a school aide, and Carl Blonsky, a municipal worker for the village water pollution control district. Her father is Jewish, and her mother is Roman Catholic. Blonsky attended Great Neck North Middle School and attended John L. Miller Great Neck North High School, and switched to Village School after a year at the latter. She additionally attended the after-school theatre program at William A. Shine Great Neck South High School daily, where she participated in productions of '' Les Misérables'', '' Sweeney Todd'', '' Kiss Me, Kate'', and the title role of the opera ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

''.

Career

2008 Voice Awards Nikki Blonsky (20163852830)

Blonsky made her screen debut as

in the musical feature film '' Hairspray'', which is an adaptation of the musical of the same name. She auditioned for the role as a high-school student with no professional acting or singing background at the time, and beat out eleven-hundred candidates. The film was released to commercial and critical success, and became Blonsky's breakthrough role. She received praise for her performance, with

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of The '' Chicago Sun-Times'' writing "Without somebody like Nikki Blonsky at the heart of the movie, it might fall flat, but everybody works at her level of happiness..." She received several awards and nominations, including winning two Critic's Choice Awards for Best Actress and Best Acting Ensemble, and being nominated for the

for Best Actress and the

for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. On June 22, 2008, she sang The Star-Spangled Banner in the pre-race ceremony at the 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. Blonsky also co-starred in the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

mystery series '' Valemont'' in 2009. In 2010, Blonsky co-starred with Raven Goodwin in the short lived

series '' Huge'', which premiered in June 2010, and ran for one season. '' Entertainment Weekly'' described her as the show's "great asset" and praised her for having "the delicate skill to make Will’s anger take the forms of both sincerity and a funny sarcasm." For ''Huge'', she received a nomination for a Teen Choice Award. In 2011, Blonsky earned a cosmetology license, and began working part-time as a hairstylist and make-up artist in her hometown of Great Neck, New York, between acting auditions. In 2013, Blonsky appeared in two episodes of the NBC Broadway drama series '' Smash''. Later that year, she appeared in the film adaptation of the book ''

Geography Club ''Geography Club'' is a 2003 young adult novel by American author Brent Hartinger. It is the first book in '' The Russel Middlebrook Series''. The novel follows a group of high school students who feel like outsiders, some because of their se ...

''. The film received mixed reviews, however she and the cast were nominated for an award at the

ShoWest Convention The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is an American trade organization whose members are the owners of movie theaters. Most of the worldwide major theater chains' operators are members, as are hundreds of independent theater opera ...

in 2014. Blonsky appeared

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in the play ''Stuffed'' by Lisa Lampanelli at the Westside Theatre in October 2017 to November 2017. In 2020, Blonsky launched her video blogging series on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account, in which she chats with other celebrities.

Personal life

In July 2008, Blonsky and her parents were involved in a violent confrontation with the family of Bianca Golden, a former contestant on '' America's Next Top Model'', at the Providenciales International Airport in Turks and Caicos. Golden, Blonsky, and Blonsky's father were all charged with assault. That December, the charges against Blonsky and Golden were dropped. In June 2020, Blonsky came out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

in a video posted to the social media site TikTok set to the song " I'm Coming Out" by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

. In August 2020, Blonsky confirmed that she currently resides on Long Island. In 2022, Blonsky announced her engagement to her partner Hailey Jo Jenson.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *
"17 Year-Old Nikki Blonsky Cast as Hairspray Film's Tracy"
BroadwayWorld.com, June 8, 2006
"Breaking News: Unknown Lands Hairspray Lead"
, Cinematical.com, June 8, 2006
"A 'Hairspray' dream come true"
MSNBC/Access Hollywood, June 15, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Blonsky, Nikki 1988 births Actresses from New York (state) American child actresses American child singers American film actresses American television actresses American women bloggers American bloggers LGBT people from New York (state) American LGBT singers LGBT dancers Living people People from Great Neck, New York American female dancers American dancers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Great Neck North High School alumni Dancers from New York (state) American people of Jewish descent Women video bloggers American lesbian actresses LGBT Jews