Nicole Blonsky (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and internet personality. She is known for playing Tracy Turnblad in the film ''

Hairspray Hairspray may refer to: * Hair spray, a personal grooming product that keeps hair protected from humidity and wind * ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundtrack), the film's soundtrack album ** ''Hairspray ...

'' (2007), for which she won two

Critics' Choice Awards The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...

and received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Blonsky has starred as Willamena Rader in the ABC Family series ''

Huge Huge may refer to: * Huge cardinal, a number in mathematics * ''Huge'' (Caroline's Spine album), 1996 * ''Huge'' (Hugh Hopper and Kramer album), 1997 * ''Huge'' (TV series), a television series on ABC Family * Huge (digital agency) * ''Huge'' ...

'' (2010), for which she received a

Teen Choice Award The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United ...

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 ''The Last Movie Star'' is a 2017 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Adam Rifkin. The film stars Burt Reynolds, Ariel Winter, Clark Duke, Ellar Coltrane and Chevy Chase. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Fest ...

'' (2017) as Faith. She is a licensed

cosmetologist Cosmetology (from Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''-logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures, non-permanent hair removal such as ...

Early life

Blonsky was born and raised in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincorpo ...

. She and her brother Joey are the children of Karen, a school aide, and Carl Blonsky, a municipal worker for the village

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...

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 One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

after a year at the latter. She additionally attended the after-school theatre program at

William A. Shine Great Neck South High School William A. Shine Great Neck South High School (commonly Great Neck South, South High School, or GNSHS) is a four-year public high school located in the Lake Success village of Great Neck, New York. The school serves students in grades 9 through 1 ...

daily, where she participated in productions of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'', ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...

'', ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-stag ...

'', and the title role of the opera '' Carmen''.

Career

2008 Voice Awards Nikki Blonsky (20163852830)

Blonsky made her screen debut as Tracy Turnblad in the musical feature film ''

'', 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 of The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' 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 Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

and Best Acting Ensemble, and being nominated for the Golden Globe Award for

and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. On June 22, 2008, she sang

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

in the pre-race ceremony at the 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern ...

. Blonsky also co-starred in the MTV mystery series ''

Valemont ''Valemont'' is an American supernatural television miniseries on MTV that premiered on September 21, 2009. Two episodes premiered on Tuesdays during '' The Hills'' and '' The City''. For six consecutive weeks, two and a half minute episodes of ...

'' in 2009. In 2010, Blonsky co-starred with

Raven Goodwin Raven Shamira Goodwin is an American actress. She made her debut with the comedy film ''Lovely & Amazing'' (2001), which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and next received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role in ...

in the short lived ABC Family series ''

'', which premiered in June 2010, and ran for one season. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' 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

. In 2011, Blonsky earned a

cosmetology Cosmetology (from Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , '' -logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/ pedicures, non-permanent hair removal such ...

license, and began working part-time as a hairstylist and make-up artist in her hometown of

, 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''. 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 in the play ''Stuffed'' by

Lisa Lampanelli Lisa Lampanelli (born Lisa Marie Lampugnale; July 19, 1961) is an American former stand-up comedian, actress and insult comic. Early life and journalism career Lampanelli was born in Trumbull, Connecticut, to a middle-class family. Three of her ...

at the Westside Theatre in October 2017 to November 2017. In 2020, Blonsky launched her video blogging series on her Instagram 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 The ninth cycle of ''America's Next Top Model'' was the third season of the series to be aired on The CW network. This cycle's promotional tagline was "The Future Of Fashion." The promotional song was " Shut Up and Drive" by Rihanna. The prizes ...

, a former contestant on ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'', at the

Providenciales International Airport Providenciales International Airport , on the island of Providenciales in the Caicos Islands, is the main international airport serving the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. It is operated by Turks an ...

Turks and Caicos The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

. 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 Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a lesbian in a video posted to the social media site

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...

set to the song " I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross. 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