From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Nikki M. James

American actress and singer

Summary

American actress and singer

Field	Value
name	Nikki M. James
image	Nikki M. James (5923037535).jpg
caption	James at the 2011 Tony Awards
birth_name	Nikki Michelle James
birth_place	Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
occupation	Actress, director, singer
awards	Tony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical)—The Book of Mormon

Nikki Michelle James is an American actress, director and singer. James has performed in the popular stage musicals The Book of Mormon, Les Misérables, and Suffs, earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for The Book of Mormon at the 65th Tony Awards.

Life and career

Nikki M. James was born to immigrant parents, a Vincentian father and a Haitian mother who settled in New Jersey in pursuit of the American dream. James grew up in Livingston, New Jersey where she would graduate from Livingston High School. As a child, she sang and acted in church and in school performances. She was nominated for a Rising Star Award at Paper Mill Playhouse for her performance as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! in high school. She later attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

James made her Broadway debut in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and starred as Ottilie in the New York City Center Encores! production of House of Flowers. She played Adela Alba in the Off-Broadway run of Michael John LaChiusa's musical adaptation of Bernarda Alba and appeared in the Broadway cast of All Shook Up.

James played Dorothy Gale in the revival of The Wiz at La Jolla Playhouse and also starred in Romeo and Juliet and Caesar and Cleopatra at the Stratford Festival with Christopher Plummer. For her performance as Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon, she won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musicalat the 65th Tony Awards. During that run, she took a leave in June 2012 to film a screen version of Lucky Stiff. From 2014 to January 2015, she played Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables.

In July 2017, James starred in the New York City Center Encores! staged concert of The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin. In 2024 she began starring as journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells in the musical Suffs. James was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance at the 77th Tony Awards.

She also has had many notable film and television roles as an actor, starting on Law & Order, followed by 30 Rock, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Good Wife, Severance (TV series) and Daredevil: Born Again.

Acting and directing credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Pizza	April Snow
2009	Caesar and Cleopatra	Cleopatra	Same as the 2008 theatre play
2013	All Is Bright	Betsy
2014	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby	Sia	Appeared in Him, the first in a trio of films
2014	Lucky Stiff	Annabel Glick
2021	Here After	Faith
2022	Spoiler Alert	Nina

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Third Watch	Maizie	2 episodes
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Tamara Bates	Episode: "Stray"
2004	The Jury	Myra Clarkson	Episode: "Bangers"
2009	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Jackie	Episode: "Salome in Manhattan"
2010	30 Rock	Erica	Episode: "Gentleman's Intermission"
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	911 Operator	Episode: "Father Dearest"
2015	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Gail Dunbar	2 episodes
2015	For Real	Candace	TV movie
2015–2016	The Good Wife	Monica Timmons	6 episodes
2016	BrainDead	Rochelle	12 episodes
2016	The Blacklist	Rose	Episode: "The Caretaker (No. 78)"
2017–2019	Welcome to the Wayne	Julia Wiles (voice)	10 episodes
2018	Bull	Chloe Tomlin	Episode: "Gag Order"
2018–2020	The Good Fight	Monica Timmons	3 episodes
2018	Instinct	Ashley	Episode: "Blast from the Past"
2018	Escape at Dannemora	ER Doctor	Episode: "Part 5"
2019	NCIS: New Orleans	Lisa Butler	Episode: "A House Divided"
2019	Proven Innocent	Violet Bell	13 episodes
2021	Modern Love	Pam	Episode: "How Do You Remember Me?"
2022	Severance	Alexa	4 episodes
2025–present	Daredevil: Born Again	Kirsten McDuffie	8 episodes

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer	Sabina Temple	Broadway (debut)
2003	House of Flowers	Ottilie	New York City Center Encores!
Summer	Charity Royall	New York reading
2005	All Shook Up	Lorraine	Broadway
2006	Bernarda Alba	Adela Alba	Off-Broadway
The Wiz	Dorothy Gale	La Jolla Playhouse
2007	Walmartopia	Maia Latrell	Off-Broadway
2008	Romeo and Juliet	Juliet	Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Caesar and Cleopatra	Cleopatra	Same as the 2009 film release
2011–2014	The Book of Mormon	Nabulungi	Broadway
2013	Fetch Clay, Make Man	Sonji	Off-Broadway
2014–2015	Les Misérables	Éponine Thénardier	Broadway (revival)
2015	Preludes	Natalya	Off-Broadway
2016	Twelfth Night	Viola	Shakespeare in the Park
2017	Julius Caesar	Portia
The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin	Bubbly	New York City Center Encores!
2018	Twelfth Night	Viola	Shakespeare in the Park
2019	A Bright Room Called Day	Agnes Eggling	The Public Theater
2022	Suffs	Ida B. Wells
2023	Gutenberg! The Musical!	Producer	Broadway (One night cameo)
2024–2025	Suffs	Ida B. Wells	Broadway

Year	Title	Notes
2021	The Bite	Episode: "The Fifth Wave"
2021–2022	The Good Fight	Episodes: "And the Firm Had Two Partners...", "The End of STR"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award ceremony	Category	Show
2011	Tony Award	Best Featured Actress in a Musical	The Book of Mormon
Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
2024	Tony Award	Best Featured Actress in a Musical	Suffs

References

McPhee, Ryan. (May 21, 2014). "Watch ''Les Miserables'' Star Nikki M. James Perform 'On My Own' & Chat with Wendy Williams".
Reich, Ronni. (22 March 2014). "NJ native Nikki James making history in Les Miserables".
Reich, Ronni. (June 12, 2011). "Tony Awards 2011: Nikki M. James follows dream from church to Broadway".
(June 9, 2012). "Westfield H.S. wins 8 Rising Star Awards from Paper Mill Playhouse". [[Suburban News]].
Daniels, Karu F.. (September 19, 2014). "10 Things You May Not Know About Me: Nikki M. James of 'Les Miserables'".
Brantley, Ben. (February 15, 2003). "Those Sunny Brothels Where Sin Has No Sting".
"Nikki M. James".
"2008 Nominations".
Gans, Andrew. (February 25, 2011). "DIVA TALK: Chatting with Book of Mormon's Nikki M. James".
(May 17, 2012). "Jason Alexander, Nikki M. James & Jayne Houdyshell to Star in Film Adaptation of ''Lucky Stiff''".
Champion, Lindsay. (October 22, 2013). "Prepare the Barricades! Ramin Karimloo, Will Swenson, Caissie Levy & Nikki M. James to Lead ''Les Miserables'' on Broadway".
Lloyd Webber, Imogen. (December 29, 2014). "Tony Winner Nikki M. James Sets Departure Date From Broadway's ''Les Miserables''".
"Cast & Creative".
"The Tony Award Nominations".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

american-people-of-haitian-descent american-people-of-saint-vincent-and-the-grenadines-descent american-stage-actresses american-voice-actresses living-people livingston-high-school-(new-jersey)-alumni actresses-from-livingston,-new-jersey musicians-from-livingston,-new-jersey tisch-school-of-the-arts-alumni tony-award-winners

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Nikki M. James — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report