Brittani Nichols | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Yale University (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, writer, producer |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Notable work | Suicide Kale (2016) |
Brittani Nichols (born June 20, 1988)[1] is an American producer, actress, comedian, and writer.[2] In 2016, Nichols wrote, produced, and starred in the film Suicide Kale, which won the Audience Award for Best U.S. Dramatic Feature at 2016 Outfest. She has written for the television programs A Black Lady Sketch Show, Take My Wife, Strangers, and Drop the Mic.[3] Nichols is a writer and producer for Abbott Elementary and won the Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series award at the 54th NAACP Image Awards for the episode "Student Transfer".[4][5] As part of the producing team of Abbott Elementary, Nichols was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2023.[6]
Nichols moved to Los Angeles after college and developed the web series Words With Girls (2012), which she later rewrote as a full-length pilot that was produced by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis's initiative ColorCreative.tv.[7][8][9] The series centered a group of queer twenty-something roommates in LA and starred Nichols, Corbin Reid, Hannah Hart, Alex Sturman, and Lauren Neal.[9] In 2016, Nichols wrote, produced, and starred in Suicide Kale, a dark comedy with an all queer-woman cast.[10] Nichols stated in an interview that she set out to make a lesbian movie that "wasn’t about coming out, sleeping with a man, or a character death at the end".[11] Both Words with Girls and Suicide Kale draw on Nichols' own experiences as a lesbian, and she has stated repeatedly in interviews that she is committed to increasing LGBTQ and African-American representation in media.[12] Suicide Kale won the Audience Award for Best U.S. Dramatic Feature at Outfest.[3]
She has appeared in several television programs including A Black Lady Sketch Show, Take My Wife, and Transparent.[13][10] Nichols was a writer for season one of the HBO series A Black Lady Sketch Show.[14] She has also written for Strangers, Drop the Mic, and Take My Wife.[15] She served as Consulting Producer for The Circle and Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness.
In 2020, it was announced that Nichols would produce a dramedy, Toothbrush, for Quibi through ColorCreative; however Quibi went out of business before the show was created.[16][17]
She is a writer and producer for the ABC comedy Abbott Elementary and is represented by CAA.[18][19][20]
In 2016, she released a five-track EP, Brittani Nichols Likes You.[2] Nichols previously co-hosted two podcasts, Brand New Podcast with Ariana Lenarsky, and Hamilton the Podcast with Khalehla Rixon.[21] Nichols also is Writers Guild of America West Captain.[22]
Nichols was born in Chicago.[23] After attending Thornwood High School, she attended Yale University, where she played on the women's basketball team and women's rugby team.[24]
She is gay and genderqueer.[25] She supported Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez during the 2022 Los Angeles elections.[26][27]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Words with Girls | Brittani | 5 episodes |
| 2013 | Unicorn Plan-It | Random Sleeper | Episode: "Across the YOUniverse" |
| 2015 | Transparent | Nicol | 3 episodes |
| 2016 | Suicide Kale | Jasmine Rawlings | Also writer |
| 2016 | The Fat One | Reese | Episode: "Not Hungry" |
| 2017 | Rad Lands | Farmer Knox | Episode: "Big" |
| 2018 | Take My Wife | Bethani | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | Barbecue Daddy #2 / Ex | 2 episodes |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Words with Girls | 6 episodes |
| 2015 | The Xperiment | 26 episodes |
| 2016 | Suicide Kale | Also actress |
| 2017 | Drop the Mic | 6 episodes |
| 2018 | Take My Wife | 5 episodes |
| 2018 | Strangers | Episode: "First Skate" |
| 2019 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | 6 episodes |
| 2022 | Abbott Elementary | 2 episodes |