Biography
Tenacity, courage, audacity and motivation are trademarks of Lydia Nicole. These qualities have served her from a Harlem childhood to the present. She lives a very diverse life - mother, actress, writer, comedian, motivational speaker, and executive - with each role gaining greater and greater insight into the industry. At the age of 13 she was given a job at New York's number one radio station and creator of urban contemporary, WBLS-FM in New York City. There she apprenticed under radio legends Frankie Crocker and Hal Jackson. And was promoted to music director by the age of 18. Soon after she relocated to Los Angeles her experience landed her a job working at Neil Bogart's legendary Casablanca Records whose roster included Donna Summer, the Village People, Parliament, Kiss, Cameo, and Cher. There she worked hand and hand with Record mogul Jheryl Busby where her skills and insight served her well at record promotions, artist development and marketing.
Bitten early by the acting bug, Lydia traded her executive hat for a career in acting. Over the years she has been featured in various notable television shows and feature films. The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, Indecent Proposal starring Robert Redford, Hollywood Shuffle starring Robert Townsend and Stand and Deliver with Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos, for which she received several awards for her performance. As an award winning professional actress, comedian, and motivational public speaker, Lydia's acting career spans over 25 years, soon, she began to turn her childhood misadventures into a comedy routine that quickly landed her on BET's Comic View, regular spots at Hollywood's famed Comedy Store, and Laugh Factory, a mention as Hispanic Magazine's Top 100 Latino Comics list, and gigs around the U.S. and Puerto Rico, where she also performed in Spanish. ("My father's a pimp, my mother's a prostitute," her act begins. "Out here that makes me an actress. . .") As one of the pioneers of bringing ethnic humor and diversity to urban audiences, she both starred in and co-produced a successful comedy troupe entitled The Funny Ladies of Color. Later co-founding the critically acclaimed stand-up comedy troupe, The Hot & Spicy Mamitas, who released a CD on Uproar Records and garnered interest from HBO for their own comedy special. These projects where predecessors that paved the way for shows that we enjoy today.
Lydia's career ignited when she took paper to pen to write a one-woman show based on her childhood entitled "A Rose in Spanish Harlem". The show explores her rough childhood. Built from the stuff of classic drama, hers is a story of hope, empowerment and the supernatural. Gifted with the ability to see Angels and Spirits in the spiritual realm, this dynamic show is a coming of age story about a half Black, half Puerto Rican girl whose father is a pimp, whose mother is a prostitute, and whose caretaker and confidant is a drag queen. The setting is on the mean streets of El Barrio's Spanish Harlem in New York City during the 1960s and 70s. Funny, entertaining, and challenging A Rose in Spanish Harlem addresses "The Higher Purpose" question of who am I, and what am I going to do with my life. The show skillfully balances being universally relatable, while still emphasizing Latino culture and community. This is a comedy that weaves laughter and tenacity throughout each act with a silken thread. Magically incorporated into the play's theme is Helen Keller's message that the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart. Masterfully, without clobbering audiences over their heads, Lydia Nicole touches and moves audiences young and old. The storyline allows everyone, regardless of background, to relate to the comedic actor's life drama. Nicole reveals to us how we might all seize the internal power to transform life's No's into Yea's!
In A Rose In Spanish Harlem, the playwright and actress transforms herself into a girl guru, portraying over 25 characters. She brings the audience a global village of unforgettable characters, whose diversity spans race, gender, and socio-economics. The show offers an opportunity to meet and connect with people one would not normally come in contact with.
Lydia took a hiatus from performing to working behind the camera assisting Filmmaker Robert Townsend. One of the projects she worked on as associate producer that she is most proud of is Why We Laugh, a documentary on the history of African American comedians from slavery to present, including interviews with such legends as Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, Chris Rock and the Wayans. The film received critical acclaim at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Another project she has assisted Robert on PIC.tv is the award winning web series Diary Of A Single Mom, starring Monica Calhoun, Billy Dee Williams, and Richard Roundtree.
With her survival instincts and ability to turn a turbulent upbringing into a life of celebration, Lydia has become an inspiration for thousands of at-risk teens. Speaking at inner-city schools, churches and juvenile correctional facilities has lead to her upcoming book providing life skills and tools to motivate young adults. She has also served as a spokesperson for Athletes & Entertainers For Kids, PEACE Fund and Artsreach, with whom she collaborated on the award-winning documentary When The Bough Breaks about incarcerated teen mothers. This past year, Lydia took two extraordinary workshops into the California Youth Authority, A Garden Party and Boys to Kings. A Garden Party program taught incarcerated females to respect and nurture the garden they helped plant. Boys to Kings was a rites of passage workshop that initiated young men into adulthood. Lydia has recently completed a new solo show entitled "In The Men's Corner", based on her rights of passage workshop.
Ms. Nicole is always active with her career, her ministry and enjoying time with her daughter in Los Angeles and New York. She mentors a women's group, tending her garden and painting everything red.
