Vivian Nichole Nixon (born May 31, 1984) is an American actress and dancer. She played Dr. Hannah Brody in the

medical drama A medical drama is a Television film, television movie or film in which events center upon a hospital, clinic, doctor's office, a paramedic, or any other medical topic or environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic progra ...

series ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' and currently voices

Millie Millie is a feminine given name, or diminutive form of various other given names, such as Emily, Millicent, Mildred, Camille, Camilla, Camila, Emilia, Maximillian, or sometimes Amelia. People with the given name Notable people with the given ...

in the adult animated web series ''

Helluva Boss ''Helluva Boss'' is an American adult animated musical black comedy web series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. It revolves around the misadventures of the employees of I.M.P., a company in Hell that offers hitman services in the real ...

''.

Early life

Born in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, she is one of three children of former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

star

Norm Nixon Norman Ellard Nixon (born October 11, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also played with Scav ...

and actress

Debbie Allen Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award ...

. She was named after her grandmother Vivian Ayers-Allen. Her aunt is actress

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) ( Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress. She was most recently dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University before her three-year contract ended in May 2024. Known for her roles on stage and scree ...

and her younger brother is basketball player Norm E. Nixon Jr. Vivian took gymnastics until a fellow gymnast fell and was seriously injured, and her mother took her out of the sport at age 13. She went on to study at the

Kirov Academy of Ballet The Kirov Academy of Ballet (formerly the Universal Ballet Academy) was a ballet school in Washington, D.C. founded by Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon in 1990. It closed in May 2022. Facilities The Kirov was located in a former monastery on a 1.2 ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

Career

On her final year of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance, Nixon was cast as Kalimba in the Broadway production of ''

Hot Feet ''Hot Feet'' is a jukebox musical featuring the music of Earth, Wind & Fire, a book by Heru Ptah and was conceived, directed, and choreographed by Maurice Hines. The musical opened on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre) o ...

'', the classic storyline of The Red Shoes with a '70s funk facelift, and Kalimba is the ambitious girl at the center of it who can't stop dancing (literally). She was named of the top "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine in 2007. Her regional credits, including Alan Johnson's ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'' (Anita), '' Bayou Legend'' (Sara), ''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

'' (Pearl), ''Soul Possessed'', ''

Dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5–20 minutes, althou ...

'', ''Brothers of the Knight'' and ''The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker''. She performed on the European tour of ''West Side Story'' and ''Harriet''. Nixon has appeared in films ''

500 Days of Summer ''(500) Days of Summer'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Marc Webb, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom and Summer re ...

'' and ''

Top Five ''Top Five'' is a 2014 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Rock. Produced by Scott Rudin and Eli Bush, the film stars Rock, Rosario Dawson, and Gabrielle Union, and follows New York City comedian and film star And ...

''. On television, she had secondary roles in the Fox musical series ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' and NBC's '' Smash''. In 2015, she began appearing as Dr. Hannah Brody in the ABC medical drama series, ''

''. In 2020, she appeared in its spin-off series, ''

Station 19 ''Station 19'' is an American action and procedural drama television series created by Stacy McKee that premiered on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on March 22, 2018. It is the second spin-off of ''Grey's Anatomy'' (after '' Private Pr ...

''. In December 2020, she began voicing

in the web series ''

'' in all episodes, except the pilot. Nixon is associate director at Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

Personal life

Nixon has three daughters.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Interview with Vivian Nixon regarding her role in Hot Feet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Vivian American female dancers American dancers 1984 births Living people Actresses from Miami 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses African-American female dancers African-American choreographers American choreographers American stage actresses American television actresses 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women