Nicola was born in Worcestershire. She trained as a dancer and moved to London at the age of 18. She was approached in the street by Coca Cola UK to star in a TV commercial to introduce a new drink called Sprite. Nicola went on to star in TV commercials for Ford Cars, Pantene, Oil Of Olay, Sunkisk, Elizabeth Shaw Chocolates etc. She moved to Australia with her Australian boyfriend and landed a regular role on the TV series "Neighbours" (1985) playing the notorious Sarah Beaumont. She remained with the show for 3 years. Her next role was playing Belinda in the Australian movie Muggers (2000). During filming she met and fell in love with actor Jason Barry and upon completion of that film moved with him back to London. They had a daughter together in January 2005 called Freya. They now live in Los Angeles, California.