Nicole Power is a popular Canadian comedic actress and musical theatre performer, who is perhaps most famous for her role of Shannon Ross in CBS’ sitcom “Kim’s Convenience”, about the life of a Korean Canadian immigrant family.
Early life and family
Nicole Power was born on 24 November 1987, in Middle Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada, so her zodiac sign is Virgo, and she holds Canadian nationality. Her mother’s name is Christine Power, but Nicole always calls her Chrissy P; Nicole’s father is Jim Power. Nicole has an elder brother, Adam J. Power; she shared they spent a lot of time together while growing up, swimming, playing water guns and walking in the forests.
Nicole and Adam looked different since childhood, and a lot of people could hardly believe they were brother and sister, but Nicole learnt how to play jokes on that, so they didn’t feel awkward about it.
In one of her interviews to Sheridan Academy in 2016, Nicole shared that while growing up, she always enjoyed singing and dancing, while she performed in her high school; she also performed at her local arts and cultural center. ‘There was a real sense of community that you got in the arts scene — it was like a family, because so many people in Newfoundland are artists and the arts are encouraged and still flourishing there’, Nicole shared of her memories of her childhood in Middle Cove.
Educational background
Nicole matriculated from her local high school in 2005, then took a year of music classes and business classes to understand what she was really interested in. She also wanted to learn how to deal with her hesitancy of going to another city and leaving her home: ‘I took that year to make sure that theatre school was for me, since it would be taking me away from Newfoundland, which still makes me sad, to be honest’, Nicole said once. However, she made the decision and left for Sheridan College in Brampton, Ontario, graduating its Musical Theatre program in 2010. Later she studied at Second City’s conservatory in Toronto. From 2016 Nicole has been a member of Soulpepper Theatre Academy.
Career
Theatre career
Nicole started appearing in various Canadian productions in 2010, beginning her theatre career at the Charlottetown Festival, landing a supporting role in a production of “Evangeline”, which was based on the history of the Acadians. She also worked at the Halifax-based Neptune Theatre, appearing in its productions “Elf: The Musical” and “Legally Blonde”. Later she could also be seen in such plays as “Dog Sees God”, “La Cage Aux Folles” and “West Side Story”. Later she again appeared at the Charlottetown Festival, playing one of the main roles in “Anne of Green Gables: The Musical”.
Nicole and her lifetime friend and fellow actress Victoria Fuller appeared together in the Canadian production “Bonnie & Clyde” in 2016 – Victoria also helped Nicole to bring the production to heir mutual hometown of Middle Cove; it is worth mentioning that Fuller is the founder of ECHO Productions, famous for such plays as “Debout, les Yeux Ouverts” (2004), “Hope” (2012) and “Mountain Men Chante George Brassens” (2019).
Television career
In 2016 Nicole landed the role of Shannon Ross in the TV comedy series “Kim’s Convenience”. Starring Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa and Jean Yoon as Umma, the sitcom tells the story of the Korean Canadian family, who own a convenience store.
According to the plot, Appa and Umma have two kids, Jung and Janet, and all of them work hard to have a better life. Nicole joined the cast, appearing in 52 episodes of the show, portraying Jung’s boss, the manager of Handy Car Rental. Shannon was supposed to have a crush on Jung, but this story line was closed in the first season after a few attempts from Shannon’s side to attract Jung.
The series appeared to be very popular and successful, attracting positive reviews from critics, and in 2017 the series got more than 25 nominations and won 10 awards. In 2018 Nicole was nominated as Best Supporting or Guest Actress, Comedy by Canadian Screen Awards, losing the award to Emily Hampshire, who won it for her role in “Schitt’s Creek”.
The series “Kim’s Convenience” was also warmly welcomed in Korea, and even won the 2019 Seoul International Drama Awards in the category “Most Popular Foreign Drama of the Year”. The impact of the series is widely discussed as one of the most important messages at the moment, as the producers of the sitcom shared “Kim’s Convenience” was called to smooth the situation around national diversity lacking on the silver screen itself in fact. The Georgia Straight, Vancouver News Weekly Magazine, wrote that the Korean cast would change the balance, ruined by such decisions as having Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi, who was originally the Japanese character, in “Ghost in the Shell” (2017) and having Emma Stone as Alison Ng, the character of Hawaiian and Asian background in “Aloha” (2015).
In 2020 the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television nominated Nicole as Best Supporting Actress, Comedy for her work in “Kim’s Convenience”; Nicole will battle for the awards with three actresses from “Schitt’s Creek” series: Sarah Levy, Emily Hampshire and Jennifer Robertson, as well as Mary Walsh, who is also nominated for her work in “Little Dog”.
Also In 2020 Nicole appeared as Jema in the short movie “Nocturne Falls” and as Clara in the thriller “The Toll”, which is announced to be released in September 2020.
Personal life, husband Adam
Nicole is quite secretive about everything related to her private life. However, she sometimes posts photos with her husband Adam, who is a chef in a local vegetarian restaurant in Toronto.
The couple met in 2015 and married in 2016; they enjoy travelling together and like visiting new cafes and restaurants, trying local food. Nicole and Adam don’t have any kids – Nicole was rumored to be pregnant, as some of her fans took photos of her in wide hoodies, so some supposed that she was expecting. However, Nicole hasn’t announced any news on that topic.
Hobbies, favorite things and interesting facts
One of Nicole’s favorite comedians was John Candy, who is famous for his appearances in such movies as “Home Alone” in the role of Gus Polinski, the musician who took Kevin’s mother home; “Cool Runnings” (1993) as Irv and “Spaceballs” as “Barf” – Nicole also appreciated his talent because he was Canadian, just like her.
Nicole likes attending various exhibitions, and visits museums everywhere she gets to; she has recently enjoyed the exhibition of modern art in Florentin, Tel Aviv, sharing her favorite masterpieces on her Instagram account. Nicole’s favorite flower is lilac. One of her favorite dishes is ramen. Nicole collaborates with the “Raising the Roof” fund, which is a Canadian charity that helps to prevent and alleviate homelessness around the country through social enterprise.
Appearance, clothing style
Nicole has middle-length black hair and brown eyes. Her height, weight and vital statistics are not available at the moment. She doesn’t have any tattoos. As to her clothing style, she likes wearing black clothes, especially black turtlenecks and little black dresses. She enjoys wearing high heels.
Net worth and salary
As of 2020, Nicole Power’s current net worth is reported to be around $1 million.