Nicola Hughes (actress) facts for kids

Nicola Hughes is an English dancer, singer, and actress. She has Antiguan family roots.

Early Theatre Roles

Nicola Hughes started her main theatre career in 1996. Her first big role was playing the Acid Queen in The Who's Tommy at the Shaftesbury Theatre. After that, she played Donna Douglas in The Goodbye Girl at the Albery Theatre. .....

West End Successes

From 1998 to 1999, Nicola starred as Velma Kelly in the popular musical Chicago in London's West End. She performed at the Adelphi Theatre.

She also had other important roles in the West End. She played Zarita in Simply Heavenly at the Trafalgar Studios. Another big role was in Fosse at the Prince of Wales Theatre. For her performance in Fosse, she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. This award is one of the highest honors in British theatre.

Her most recent West End performance was playing Bess in Sir Trevor Nunn's production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. She performed this role from November 2006 to June 2007. She was nominated for another Olivier Award for this role.

Other Stage Performances

Nicola Hughes has performed in many other theatre productions. She played Yum Yum in The Hot Mikado at the Watermill Theatre. She was also Bloody Mary in South Pacific at the Grange Park Opera.

Other roles include:

• Follow My Leader, a political show, at the Birmingham Rep and Hampstead Theatre.
• Zarita in Simply Heavenly at the Young Vic.
• The Lady in Blues In The Night at the Birmingham Rep.
• Ain't Misbehavin' at Derby Playhouse.
• Helene in Sweet Charity at the Churchill Theatre.
• Notes Across a Small Pond at the Bridewell Theatre.

In the summer of 2014, Nicola played Bess again in Porgy and Bess. This time, the show was at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London. The performances ran from July 17 to August 23.

Television and Recent Work

In 2015, Nicola Hughes joined the cast of the Sky One TV show Mount Pleasant. She played the character Jenna in Series 5 of the show.

In February 2022, she starred as Rose Hovick in the musical Gypsy at the Alexandra Palace Theatre.

In 2024, Nicola played Sarah in the musical Opening Night. She performed alongside actress Sheridan Smith at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End. The show was directed by Ivo van Hove.