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Niki Nielsen IFA'S Actress of the Month |
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Despite working in the industry for only a few years, Niki has managed to gain a huge amount of experience through relentless hard work and sheer determination. Presently, Niki is working on a number of Utah-based independent films.
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Niki Nielsen IFA's Actress of the Month |
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After landing her first lead role in the indie film Backstroke, Niki's film debut went on to screen at NewFest 2007 in New York City as well as at Damn These Heels 2007 and Fear No Film 2007 in Salt Lake City. At Fear No FIlm, Backstroke walked away with an audience choice award. Over the next few months, Backstroke will further screen at aGliff 2007 in Austin and FirstGlance 2007 in Philadelphia.
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Niki Nielsen IFA's Actress of the Month |
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Niki was cast in a lead role in Boggled, a film made for the April 2007 Salt Lake City 48 Hour Film Festival. The film came home with a total of three awards. Niki was also lucky enough to be cast as the lead in a short independent film called Presence which was submitted to the On the Lot film competition that Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett created.
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| IFA DOT COM'S
TOTAL POP STAR! |
IFA DOT COM, an off-shoot of IFA - Independent Filmmakers Alliance - is proud to announce it's upcoming project TOTAL POP STAR! An online singing competition that puts American Idol to shame, TOTAL POP STAR boasts no lines, no rejection and best of all, no Simon! To register for the biggest online singing competition in the world, visit www.totalpopstar.com. Are you the nest TOTAL POP STAR?
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IN HER OWN WORDS . . .
The Blessing and the Curse of Acting from Niki Nielsen's Perspective
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and have lived in the general area my entire life. I am a fanatic of the outdoors and while in college worked as a ski instructor, snowboard instructor, and river guide. I love camping, hiking, rock climbing, rollerblading, wake boarding, snow skiing, snowboarding, river rafting, kayaking, dancing, traveling, watercolor painting, unicycling, and of course acting!
As a child, I had many ambitions. I wanted to be an artist like my Dad, a lawyer, a doctor, an inventor, a writer, and even an actress. My first try as an actress was in an elementary school play where I played the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. I forgot my lines and was teased by many of the kids in my class. I didn't have the guts to try it again until I was in junior high school and auditioned for Tom Sawyer. I had to sing for the audition. I do not sing. I didn't get into the musical. After that, I guess I figured that if I couldn't sing, I couldn't be an actress.
When I decided to go to the University of Utah for college, I thought that engineering might be something I was good at. I have always done well in math and science so it made sense to pursue something that would require and utilize those abilities. I never really looked back until my fourth year of college when I needed to fulfill an art requirement before graduating. "Intro to Acting 1" was on the list of classes I could take and I thought, "Why not?" I took the class and loved it. I couldn't help but think "Why didn't I take this class earlier?" I don't regret having gotten my degree in engineering - I only regret that I didn't pursue acting earlier.
I finished out my last year of college and began the search to find a job as an engineer. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and the best offer I received was to go back to school to pursue a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering with a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Huffing it back to school to study micro-sensors, I couldn't get acting out of my head. I took a few classes here and there, got into a couple of small plays, but nothing too serious. I still felt that in order to make it as an actor, to have acting as a career, you had to be born into it or somehow magically discovered. It seemed like a foolish dream that seemed even more foolish as I began my Master's degree program. Ultimately, I finished out that degree too and actually got a job this time!
I currently work full time as a Mechanical Engineer on the NASA space shuttle program as well as other rocket motor programs. It's a great job, very interesting and the pay is great too! But I guess I could never really get over that darned acting thing. About a year into the new job I started wondering if this was really what I should be doing with my life. I was in my mid-twenties and having what some might call a "quarter-life crisis". I decided that if I was going to try acting that now was the time. It's not easy pursuing your dream and spending many nights and weekends striving to make it happen . . . especially while working full time . . . but so far my crazy busy life has been completely worth it.
I've always been a very imaginative, creative person. I've enjoyed my artistic hobbies, but never thought I could make a decent living as a painter, dancer or actor. I thought that a career as an engineer would be a well-respected job that could take me far in life. I was also breaking a stereotype which is something I always strive to do. There are far fewer women in engineering than there are men. And I believe that I have many qualities that make a great engineer and an even greater actress. I am outgoing, a risk-taker, passionate, motivated, and determined. I take nothing for granted and strive to live my life to the fullest. I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I was able to become a "rocket scientist". No matter how hard the road was, I persisted and succeeded in my goal. And I feel great about that. BUT, and there always has to be a "but", my true passion lies in acting.
I have worked on and am working on several independent films and am not planning to slow down anytime soon. I am constantly training and I strive to learn more about the art of acting everyday. My ultimate goal is to live and work doing what I love. You can visit my website at www.nikinielsen.com and my blog at www.nikinielsen.blogspot.com for updates and more information about me and my journey.
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PLANS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT? THEY ARE SET!
Everybody Who's Anybody Will Be Heading to Club Nacional to Check Out the Opening Reception of the 3rd Annual HollyShorts Film Festival - AUGUST 10, 2007!
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Presented by h Magazine
Friday August 10, 2007
7-10pm
Nacional Hollywood (1645 Wilcox Avenue)
Music: DJ HighEnd Rudy Mangual
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