Nicole Blonsky (born November 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. 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), ''Hairspray'' (1988 film), a film by John Waters ** Hairspray (1988 soundtrack), ''Hairspray'' (1988 soundt ...

'' (2007), for which she won two Critics' Choice Awards and nominations for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

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 1995 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

. Blonsky has starred as Willamena Rader in the

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

series '' Huge'' (2010), for which she received a

Teen Choice Award The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

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.

Early life

Blonsky was born and raised in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among th ...

. 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 Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...

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 schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...

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 ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'', ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

'', ''

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

'', 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 novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

''.

Career

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 1100 candidates. The film was released to commercial and critical success, and became Blonsky's first role. She received praise for her performance, with

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

of The ''

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

'' 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 Young 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 "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 by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

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

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

. Blonsky also co-starred in the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

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 (TV series), The Hills'' and ''The City (2008 TV series), The City''. For six conse ...

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

'' 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 suc ...

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 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 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 h ...

at the Westside Theatre in October 2017 to November 2017. Blonsky would see a resurgence in 2025 following a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

trend of her Cameo appearances.

Personal life

In July 2008, Blonsky and her parents were involved in an aggravated confrontation with the family of Bianca Golden, 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 in

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 no ...

over saved seats in the airport departure lounge. Golden and Blonsky were charged with

actual bodily harm Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (often abbreviated to Assault OABH, AOABH or simply ABH) is a statutory offence of aggravated assault in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Hong Kong and th ...

and Blonsky's father with

grievous bodily harm Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the ...

, a

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...

. That December, the charges against Blonsky and Golden were dropped. It has been alleged by Golden that the altercation was racially motivated and involved racist remarks, but this is vehemently denied by Blonsky, who remarked in an Instagram story: "I am deeply saddened and hurt to hear I have been wrongly accused of ever having anything other than love in my heart for someone of a different race, when that couldn't be further from the truth". In June 2020, Blonsky

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

as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. 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 nouns with female homosexu ...

in a video posted to the social media site

set to the song "

I'm Coming Out "I'm Coming Out" is a song recorded by American singer Diana Ross. It was written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and released on August 22, 1980 by Motown, as the second single from Ross' self-titled eleventh ...

" by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. In 2022, Blonsky announced her engagement to her partner Hailey Jo Jenson. They were married on October 21, 2023.

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 film actresses American television actresses LGBTQ people from New York (state) Living people 21st-century American actresses John L. Miller Great Neck North High School alumni American people of Jewish descent American lesbian actresses