Thursday, June 2, 2011

Happy Birthday Nikki (Cox)!


Nikki


Before and after puberty


All grown up


As Tiffany Malloy


Tiffany vs Kelly








Las Vegas showgirl





As Mary Connell


"Run Ronnie Run"


With husband Jay

Alright, back from the Dalai Lama, the needy bastard.
This morning I am very pleased to give a great big happy birthday shout out, again, to one of my very favorite actresses and comedians, and new mom (she gave birth to her first child, a son, Meredith Daniel, who is celebrating his 28th day birthday today as well), Nikki Cox!
Nicole Avery "Nikki" Cox is an L.A. girl I'm proud to say. Another ballerina as well. Her father's name is also Meredith (what an amazing coincidence!), and her mom, who at one time served as her manager, is named Mary Kay. Her younger brother Matthew is also an actor.
Ballet, that's how she got her start in show business. At the grand old age of four she was discovered by a dance agent and young Nicole soon appeared as a dancer in several ballet productions and TV specials. At ten she got her first movie acting gig in the kind of "E.T." rip off, "Mac and Me," for which she was an uncredited dancer. Then she began getting parts in television shows and movies like my favorite, "Star Trek, the Next Generation," Night Court," "Mama's Family," and "Murphy Brown." When she was 13 she played the part of "Girl," in James Cameron's Sci Fi classic "Terminator 2, Judgment Day," although I've never recognized her in that film which I've seen about a million times. She had a recurring role in the daytime soap opera "General Hospital," from 1993 to 1995, after which she won her breakout role as Tiffany Malloy in "Unhappily Ever After."
An obvious rip off of "Married with Children," the show was surprisingly successful lasting 4 1/2 seasons at 100 episodes from 1995 to May of 1999. With a natural penchant for comedy Nikki became the main focus of the program after the second season which had primarily dealt with the characters of her parents before then. She was certainly the only reason I watched the show... I don't know why. By this time she had grown into a beautiful young woman which the shows producers took full advantage of, maybe that had something to do with it, although her Tiffany was supposedly much more virtuous than her counterpart, Kelly Bundy.
Here's a little clip featuring a very young Mila Kunis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9hRiKRHIo&feature=related
Nikki had already signed on to another program for the WB network by the time Unhappily ended it's run. That would be "The Norm Show, which I have never seen, in which she played a reformed prostitute throughout the first through third seasons. That show aired from 1999 to 2001, but at the same time Nikki was working on her very own show in which she was the star, in "Nikki," which aired from 2000 to 2002. Nikki played a married professional Las Vegas showgirl. Again, she was the only reason I ever watched the show, which was canceled after only 35 episodes due to low ratings. I bet you that show would still be on the air if the producers had gotten rid of that married part. "Nikki," is currently playing in reruns in Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands. I'm thinking seriously of moving there.
After "Nikki," Nikki won a gig on the hour long drama, "Las Vegas," playing Mary Connell, a Special Events Director at the casino the show is set in. Starring James Cann, the show was well received and lasted for 5 seasons, from 2003 to 2008, however when Cann left the show after the fourth season, the producers for some inexplicable reason fired Nikki. I don't know why, and at the time I predicted the show's imminent demise, which occurred of course after the next season, as again the only reason to watch it was Nikki.
She's the only reason to watch anything she appears in, like one of my very favorite films of all time, the comedy "Run Ronnie Run." I don't know why.
In December of 2006 she married the actor Jay Mohr here in L.A. Again I don't know why. Anyway they have appeared together in the Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle, "Ghost Whisperer," and the film, "Lonely Street."
Well I'm sure it's safe to say that everybody here at Joyce's Take sends congratulations on the new baby, and wishes for a very happy birthday. Happy birthday Nikki!
Here's a fun video compilation I found. I like the music:

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