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One of the most recognized names in daytime is Melody Thomas Scott. Whether you’re a fan of The Young and the Restless or not, you’ve likely heard of Nikki Newman. February 20, 2025, marked the CBS soap fave’s 46th year in the role and in 2024, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 51st Annual Daytime Emmys alongside her husband, producer Edward J. Scott, for their combined 93 years of contributions to soaps.
Where It All Began
Born in Los Angeles, Scott revealed during a podcast with Soap Opera Digest that her grandmother, who raised her, steered her toward the business at the age of 3 and she began working professionally a year later. At just 8, she landed her first motion picture role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 film, Marnie. Though she was so young and had no idea who Hitchcock was, in 2022, she told Soaps.com, “I very quickly learned that he was a very scary, heavy breathing, critical guy. Which is not hard for a lot of people to believe when I tell them this. He was exactly how you’d think. Never smiled, very clear about exactly what he wanted.”
Having studied piano, ballet, tap, jazz and singing, Scott went on to major in music at the University of Southern California. She’d been cast in many roles in primetime series like My Three Sons, The Waltons and Charlie’s Angels, as well as in films such as The Fury and Piranha, before landing a daytime role that will forever go down in history as one of the most recognized.
Nikki, From Stripper to Newman Matriarch
In 1979, while in her early 20s, Scott took over the role of Nikki from Erica Hope and in an interview with Today described the character as “girl from the wrong side of the tracks [with a] bad attitude.” Longtime viewers have watched as Nikki went from a stripper at The Bayou to one half of one of daytime’s biggest supercouples, having played opposite Eric Braeden’s Victor for decades. “We adore each other,” she told the show. “We both feel very blessed to have the other as our scene mates for all these years.”
Did You Know?
Scott also revealed that Nikki was never supposed to be a stripper but rather a mud wrestler. Though she thought a summons from the executive producer meant she was getting fired, but in fact, the meeting was scheduled to discuss her thoughts on having her character wrestle in the mud. Totally on board — and just glad she wasn’t being fired — Scott gathered up some friends and practiced for the storyline. However, the show ultimately decided a stripper would suit Nikki better. “I think I would have been more comfortable slinging mud around than taking my clothes off,” Scott stated. “You see, that was my fate.”
Family Ties
Scott has been married to Daytime Emmy Award-winning Young & Restless executive producer Edward J. Scott since October of 1985. Daughters Jennifer, Alexandra and Elizabeth round out their family.
Actress Turned Author
Since landing her iconic daytime role, Scott has turned up in other primetime parts on series such as Eight Is Enough, The King of Queens, My Name is Earl and Castle, to name a few, and in 2020, she released a memoir titled Always Young and Restless: My Life On and Off America’s #1 Daytime Drama.
Look back on Nikki’s life in Genoa City and how she went from queen of the Bayou to mistress of the manor in our photo gallery below.