Name	Nikki Blonsky
Height	4' 10"
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	9 November 1988
Place of Birth	Great Neck, New York, USA
Famous for

It is very seldom now a days that an actress is chosen for her ‘plus size’ figure, for being vertically challenged and generally coming under the umbrella of ‘overweight’. But that was the pre-requisite for the part of Tracy Turnblad, the main character in the big screen remake of the highly successful Broadway musical, ‘Hairspray’.

Nikki Margaret Blonsky, who hails from Great Neck, New York, was born on November 9th 1988 where she attended Great Neck North High School and in her sophomore year she transferred to Great Neck Village School from where she graduated in 2006. Nikki has been a theater geek all her life. Her passion for acting took hold in high school, where she immersed herself in anything and everything related to stage performance. Nikki had been singing since she was just three years old but with no specialzed training and other than a brief time in ballet lessons when she was 5, she had no dance training either.

As a teenager Nikki had played in local productions at Great Neck's South Senior High School, which included Madame Thernardier in "Les Misérables", Mrs. Lovette in "Sweeney Todd", Lilli Venessi/Katerine in "Kiss Me, Kate", and Carmen in "Carmen", ‘Hair’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

After attending a Broadway performance of ‘Hairspray’, Nikki set her sights higher than high-school theater when she was struck by the revelation that the role of Tracy Turnblad was tailor-made for her. She subsequently auditioned for the play, but was rejected because she was too young. However, not to be discouraged, Nikki didn't let go of her dream of getting the Turnblad role. Nikki took a flight out to Hollywood to do a screen test when she heard that ‘Hairspray’ was scheduled to become a movie.

Although a virtual unknown, and at just 4 feet 10 inches tall and with the figure required for the lead in ‘Hairspray’, Nikki was about to leave her days of anonymity behind her when she was instantly spotted by the film’s producer, Adam Shankman. Adam was immediately won over by Nikki’s talent and enthusiasm and the realization that Nikki was the natural candidate for the role of Tracy Turnblad.

Nikki soon found herself playing along side a cast of Hollywood greats such as John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah and Jim Broadbent.

Prior to being selected for the role, Nikki spent her days serving ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery which is where she was when she received the news that would change her life forever.

Since being cast in ‘Hairspray’, and with the completion of the movie, Nikki has had several occasions to rub shoulders with more of Hollywood’s stars. She was spotted at the 18th GLAAD Media Awards with Jennifer Aniston and at the 2007 MTV Awards with Elijah Kelley, Zac Efron and Amanda Bynes and at the ‘Hairspray’ premiere with James Marsden and Ledisi.

Displaying her confidence as a new star in Hollywood, Nikki is quoted as saying in a recent interview, with reference to the previous star of ‘Hairspray’, ‘"I'm not going to try to fill anybody's shoes, I'm going to try to create a new pair of shoes!" Setting a good, and refreshing example to teenage girls, Nikki remarked about her physique, ‘I'm not shy because I have a little extra weight on me, I've always been that way."