Melody Thomas Scott Biography

Melody Thomas Scott (born April 18, 1956) is an American actress best known for playing Nikki Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

Early life & acting career

Scott was born Melody Ann Thomas in Los Angeles, California. Her first film credit was as a child actress in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock movie Marnie. After bit parts in movies in the mid-'70s (most notably in John Wayne's final film, The Shootist in 1976), she was offered bit parts on nighttime series such as The Waltons, The Rockford Files, and Charlie's Angels.

In 1979, at the age of 23, she began playing the part of stripper Nikki Reed on the daytime serial The Young and the Restless, choosing the part over a sitcom pilot that in the end was not picked up. She was a replacement for the previous Nikki, who had lasted six months. Over time, her character reformed and became an important part of Genoa City society, as she married Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). Scott has said, "It's a miracle for an actor to have a job last 28 years," although she finds it frustrating to go through periods when she doesn't have a storyline.

Scott was parodied in the satire publication The Onion in 1999, in which a picture was edited to show her holding a Daytime Emmy (that year, Susan Lucci won the Emmy after 19 nominations). The caption read "Awards Given Out Randomly To Skinny Blonde Women". She appeared on various game shows over the years, including Family Feud (with various Young and the Restless co-stars), Pyramid, Body Language, and Match Game.

Personal life

It was on the set of "Young and the Restless" that she met her third husband, the show's executive producer Edward J. Scott. They married in 1985 and have three daughters, Jennifer, Alexandra Danielle Yeaggy (Father is the late Carlos Yeaggy, a makeup man Melody met on the set of Y&R; Alexandra was adopted by Scott) and Elizabeth. The family resides in Beverly Hills, California. Her oldest daughter, Jennifer, gave birth to twins on May 25, 2011, a boy named James and a girl named Charlotte. James and Charlotte are Melody and Edward's first and second grandchild, respectively.

Scott was one of the original board members of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York.

Filmography

• Marnie - Young Marnie (1964)
• The Beguiled - Abigail (1971)
• Posse - Laurie (1975)
• The Shootist - Girl on streetcar (1976)
• The Car - Suzie (1977)
• The Fury - LaRue (1978)
• Piranha - Laura Dickinson (1978)
• The Young and the Restless - Nikki Reed Newman (February 1979 " present)
• The Nanny- Herself (1997)
• The King of Queens - Nikki Newman (2001)
• The Paradise Virus - Linda Flemming (2003), written by Peter Layton, co-starring Lorenzo Lamas, and directed and produced by Brian Trenchard-Smith
• Castle - Ms. Wellington (2010)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1991	8th Telegatto Awards	Best Actress	The Young and the Restless
1995	11th Soap Opera Digest Awards	Outstanding Actress	The Young and the Restless
1999	26th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress	The Young and the Restless
2001	17th Soap Opera Digest Awards	Outstanding Actress	The Young and the Restless

• Daytime Emmys Pre-Nomination, Outstanding Lead Actress (2005, 2008)

See also

• Victor Newman and Nikki Reed
• Supercouple