Nikki M. James

Nikki M. James is an American actress, director, and singer originally from New Jersey who has maintained a Broadway presence spanning from 2001 to 2024. Born to a Vincentian father and a Haitian mother who immigrated to New Jersey, James grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, where she graduated from Livingston High School. During her high school years she received a Rising Star Award nomination at Paper Mill Playhouse for playing Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! She later pursued formal training at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

James made her Broadway debut in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and subsequently appeared in the Broadway cast of All Shook Up. Before and alongside her Broadway work, she took on notable regional and Off-Broadway engagements, including the role of Adela Alba in Michael John LaChiusa's musical adaptation of Bernarda Alba Off-Broadway, the role of Dorothy Gale in a revival of The Wiz at La Jolla Playhouse, and productions of Romeo and Juliet and Caesar and Cleopatra at the Stratford Festival with Christopher Plummer. She also starred as Ottilie in the New York City Center Encores! production of House of Flowers.

James earned the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her portrayal of Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon, with the honor presented at the 65th Tony Awards. During her run in that production, she took a leave in June 2012 to film a screen version of Lucky Stiff. From 2014 into January 2015, she played Éponine Thénardier in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. In July 2017, she starred in the New York City Center Encores! staged concert of The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin.

In 2024, James began starring as journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells in the Broadway musical Suffs, a role that earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 77th Tony Awards. That same year she also appeared in Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway. Beyond the stage, James has accumulated film and television credits including Law & Order, 30 Rock, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, The Good Wife, Severance, and Daredevil: Born Again.