Jeanne Nicole Griffin was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and moved to Frankfurt, Germany when she was two with her parents, Jeanne and Eugene Griffin. After six years abroad, the family moved back to the US, to Virginia for a year, before settling in Wilmington, NC. Her father worked for the Army Corps of Engineers, and her mother is a nurse. At 10 years old, Nikki began modeling and spent 3 consecutive summers working in NYC, represented by Wilhelmina (Wee Willys) and then Ford Kids. She stopped growing at 15 years old and never reached the ideal model height, but began traveling to London to assist other aspiring models. Upon graduating from New Hanover High School, Nikki went to college in North Carolina, but never enjoyed it. In 2000, she got a role in the Freddie Prinze, Jr-Jessica Biel film, Summer Catch, and despite her scene being cut from the movie, she still got her SAG card. So, realizing she needed to move to Los Angeles to fully pursue an acting career, in 2001, Nikki packed up her car and drove out to Hollywood. Her first big break happened when Nikki won her first lead role, as the love interest of the Duke cousins. She followed that with an arc as drug-dealing party-girl from the right side of the tracks, Jess Sathers, on the hit show, The OC, and with a memorable role in the third installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, Tokyo Drift. 2012 brought an exciting opportunity to explore editorial writing, and she had several articles published in Geek Magazine, as well as on-line, at Marvel.com.

Most recently, leaning into her years of experience- both in front of and behind the camera- Nikki has stepped into the role of talent manager at the management group that first launched her own acting career. She looks forward to working with established actors to provide support, as well as discovering new talent, and says this move feels "very full-circle."