Nikki Martin (legal name Nicole Heaps)Twitter / BrendaHeaps: @bflay @foodnetwork What a ...
Retrieved November 7, 2012.Star-a-Day: Nikki Martin , Star Blog
Retrieved November 7, 2012.Food Network Star Nikki Martin - About , Facebook
Retrieved November 7, 2012. is an American lifestyle TV personality, author and celebrity chef, currently based in Los Angeles, California. She is perhaps best known as a chef on the eighth season of the Food Network series '' Food Network Star''.

Early life

Martin was born in Long Beach, CA. At the young age of 17, she moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in entertainment. After a few television shows, movie appearances and a short stint at Harvard University, she decided her path was in lifestyle TV and the culinary arts. She has no formal culinary training and actually had attended

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to study and pursue medicine. But after realizing her path was set for the big screen and a life of creative endeavors, she merged her two passions of food and entertainment. In 2010, Martin auditioned for a Food Network show to begin her new career as a celebrity chef and lifestyle TV personality.O.C. native competing in ‘Food Network Star’ show - Fast Food Maven : The Orange County Register
Retrieved November 7, 2012. Martin graduated from

Aliso Niguel High School Aliso Niguel High School (ANHS), which is part of the Capistrano Unified School District, is located in the city of Aliso Viejo, California. Most of its students reside in the communities of Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. The school is a Californ ...

in 1998. Today Martin resides in Los Angeles, as a private chef for various A-list celebrities. She has founded one of the Top Underground Dinner Clubs in the US known as The Roulette Society. She has a pop culture cookbook titled ''The Burn CookBook'' based on the cult classic flick '' Mean Girls''. The book is being published by Grand Central Publishing and is set to be released Fall of 2018 with her authoring partner and actor, Jonathan Bennett.

Early media roles and Food Network

Martin has appeared on numerous television shows, including '' Titus'', ''

Scrubs Scrub(s) may refer to: * Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland * Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff * ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program * Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...

'' and '' Birds of Prey''; as well as films like '' Sorority Boys'' and '' Looney Tunes: Back in Action''.Nikki Martin – IMDb
Retrieved November 7, 2012. She appeared on the Food Network series ''

24 Hour Restaurant Battle ''24 Hour Restaurant Battle'' is a Food Network reality based cooking television series hosted by Scott Conant that features two teams competing against each other for a shot at their own restaurant. Series overview Opening: "It's the ultimate d ...

'' in July 2011,"24 Hour Restaurant Battle" Episode #2.10 (TV episode 2011) – IMDb
Retrieved November 7, 2012. competing with her best friend, Dana Chaney.
Retrieved November 7, 2012. Since her first Food Network appearance she has been featured as a celebrity chef on several food and lifestyle programming including ''Chopped Grill Masters'', Bravo's hit show '' Going Off the Menu'' and is most remembered for her participation in the series ''Food Network Star''; where Martin made a name for herself in the grilling world as "The Grill Next Door".

''Food Network Star''

In May 2012, Martin was chosen as a contestant on '' Food Network Star'' , season 8; she was mentored by Bobby Flay. She originally used the tagline “girl-on- grill”,'The Next Food Network Star': Who's Going to Win Season 8 - Yahoo! News
Retrieved November 7, 2012.The term is a play on the phrase “ girl-on-girl”. but because Food Network president Bob Tuschman found the double entendre to be too risqué,The Next Food Network Star - Show Tracker - latimes.com
Retrieved November 7, 2012. she subsequently started calling herself “the grill next door”.The Grill Next Door , FoodiePleasure
Retrieved November 7, 2012. Martin was eliminated from the show on July 15, placing in the top six.
Retrieved November 7, 2012.

Filmography

Film

Television

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Nikki 1980s births Actresses from California American television chefs American film actresses American television actresses Date of birth missing (living people) Food Network Star contestants Living people Participants in American reality television series American women chefs Food Network chefs Reality casting show winners 21st-century American women writers American cookbook writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers