Nicky Whelan

Nicky Whelan
Whelan in February 2011.
Born	(1981-05-10) May 10, 1981 (age 43) Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia
Other names	Nikki Whelan
Occupation(s)	Actress, model
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Kerry Rhodes ​ ​ (m. 2017; div. 2017)​

Nicky Whelan (born 10 May 1981) is an Australian actress and model. She is best known for her roles as Laurie Mitchell in Chosen (2013), and Pepper Steiger in Australian soap opera Neighbours (2006–2007).

Career

Before Neighbours, Whelan hosted a number of shows, including Coxy's Big Break (Seven Network), Beyond the Boundary (Network Ten), and Melbourne Woman (Seven Network), and played the fictional celebrity "Chrissie Grant" on Russell Coight's Celebrity Challenge, a spin-off of All Aussie Adventures.^{[citation needed]} Whelan is also known as the face of the rural Victorian city, Shepparton, and she hosted the night racing at Moonee Valley for eight years.^{[citation needed]} Whelan has also posed for a number of Australian magazines, including FHM (in October 2007), Ralph (in November 2005) and Inside Sport.^{[citation needed]} In November 2007, Whelan made a special appearance in Harrow, London, to promote sustainable transport and initiatives that benefit the environment. She also shot some photos for Harrow's 'It's Up to All of Us' campaign.^[1][2]

After leaving Neighbours, Whelan moved to Los Angeles. She made guest appearances in episodes of Entourage and Melrose Place,^[3] before securing a role in the final season of Scrubs as Maya, an Australian medical-school student.^[3][4] Whelan also stars in the 2010 film Hollywood & Wine alongside David Spade.^[5] In November 2010, Whelan appeared in a viral advertisement for Rökk Vodka alongside The Lonely Island.^[6] Whelan got her "big break" in the 2011 film Hall Pass, in which she played Leigh, the love interest of Owen Wilson's character.^[3][7] In October 2011, Whelan guest-starred as an attractive telemarketing temp in the episode "Temp-Tress" of the American sitcom Workaholics.^{[citation needed]}

In 2014, Whelan starred in the short-lived action drama series Matador, as well as the apocalyptic thriller film Left Behind as Hattie Durham.^[3] The following year, she appeared in comedy film The Wedding Ringer and Terrence Malick's drama film Knight of Cups.^[3] In 2017, Whelan appeared in the horror film Tragedy Girls. She also filmed the 2020 mystery drama film Love by Drowning in which she plays the lead.^[8]

Whelan starred in betting advertisements on Australian television for BetEasy.

Personal life

Whelan was born in Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is the granddaughter of Marcus Whelan, who played in the Victorian Football League between the 1930s and 1940s.

In 2016, Whelan became engaged to American football player Kerry Rhodes.^[9] Whelan and Rhodes were married in Los Angeles on 15 April 2017.^[10] In October 2017, Whelan confirmed that she had left Rhodes and the couple had separated.^[11] They divorced that same year.^[12]

In her spare time, Whelan also trains boxing as well as Brazilian jiu-jitsu.^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Russell Coight's Celebrity Challenge	Chrissie Grant	TV movie
2007	Little Deaths	Thorette
2009	The Outside	Spring Easten
	Halloween II	Wendy Snow
	Dave Knoll Finds His Soul	Girl #2	Short
2010	Hollywood and Wine	Jamie Stephens/Diane Blaine
2011	Hall Pass	Leigh	Video
2012	Coffees	Victoria	Short
	Departure Date	Violet	Short
2013	The Power of Few	Marti
	Paranormal Movie	Cindy
2014	Flight 7500	Liz Lewis
	Left Behind	Hattie Durham
	Borrowed Moments	Melissa
2015	The Wedding Ringer	Nadia
	Knight of Cups	Nicky
2016	Rebirth	Naomi
	Dog Eat Dog	Daniece
2017	Tragedy Girls	Mrs. Kent
	Inconceivable	Katie
	Valentine's Again	Kat	TV movie
	Romance at Reindeer Lodge	Molly Clark	TV movie
	Heart	Aunt Grace	Short
2018	The Middle of X	Emily Prescott
	A Christmas Arrangement	Poppy Benson	TV movie
	Do Not Be Deceived	Leslie Reynolds	TV movie
	The Danger of Positive Thinking	Lorna	TV movie
2019	Secrets at the Lake	Amy Pruitt
	Trauma Center	Madison Taylor
2020	InstaFame	Gwen Reynolds
	The Binge	Pun-Isher
	Love by Drowning	Lee Anne
	Dear Christmas	Emma	TV movie
	Famous Adjacent	Nicky	Short
2021	Last Night in Rozzie	Pattie Barry
	You're Not Safe Here	Valerie	TV movie
2022	Maneater	Jessie
	Dangerous Methods	Sharon Warman
2023	The Best Man	Brook	[14]
	The Black Mass	Liz (voice)
	The Flood	Sheriff Jo Newman	[15]
	The Nana Project	Jennifer
2024	Crescent City	Jaclyn Waters
TBA	72 Hours	Tessa

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Pizza	Cheerleader	Episode: "Road Trip Pizza 2"
2006–07	Neighbours	Heidi "Pepper" Steiger	Regular Cast
2009	Entourage	Air Hostess	Episode: "Give a Little Bit"
	Melrose Place	Kira	Episode: "Canon"
2009–10	Scrubs	Maya	Recurring Cast: Season 9
2010	Funny or Die Presents	Sandoz Lilly	Episode: "The Carpet Brothers"
	Carpet Bros	Sandoz Lilly	Episode: "Episode #2.1"
2011	Suite 7	Girl #2	Episode: "That Guy"
	Friends with Benefits	Colleen	Episode: "The Benefit of the Mute Button"
	Workaholics	Naomi	Episode: "Temp-Tress"
2012	NTSF:SD:SUV	Seconds	Episode: "Time Angels"
2013	Franklin & Bash	Charlie	Recurring Cast: Season 3
	Chosen	Laura Mitchell	Main Cast: Season 1-2
2014	Matador	Annie Mason	Main Cast
2015	Mr. Robinson	Kelly	Episode: "Love the One You're With"
	Satisfaction	Emma Waverly	Recurring Cast: Season 2
	The League	L-E	Episode: "The Block"
2016	Second Chance	Bettina	Episode: "A Suitable Donor"
	House of Lies	Claire	Recurring Cast: Season 5
	From Dusk till Dawn: The Series	Dr. Dakota Block	Recurring Cast: Season 3
2018	Life in Pieces	Kaeli	Episode: "Lingerie Cookbook Gamble Surrogate"

References

1. "It's Up to All of Us". Harrow Council. 25 March 2008. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
2. http://www.itsuptoallofus.co.uk/ Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine primary site with Nicky Whelan's image
3. Cronin, Seanna (24 January 2015). "Nicky Whelan's hard work in Hollywood paying off". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
4. Luke Ddenehy (4 October 2009). "Life in LA scrubs up well for Nicky Whelan". Sunday Herald Sun.
5. "Nicky Whelan moving to elite company". The Daily Telegraph. 2 March 2009. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012.
6. BroBible Staff (19 November 2010). "Lonely Island and Rokk Vodka Unveil First Viral Video Collaboration". BroBible.
7. Australian Associated Press (22 February 2011). "Whelan gets Pass to stardom". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
8. Dennehy, Luke; Epstein, Jackie; Te Koha, Nui (28 August 2017). "Nicky's flying visit". Herald Sun. Retrieved 23 May 2024 – via Gale.
9. "Nicky Whelan Talks Engagement to Fiancé Kerry Rhodes – See Her 6.5 Carat Diamond Ring!". People. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
10. "Neighbours actress Nicky Whelan marries NFL star Kerry Rhodes in Los Angeles". The Fix. Nine Network. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
11. Iannella, Antimo; Vlach, Anna; Gilbertson, Matt (21 October 2017). "Aussie star walks out in shock split". The Advertiser. Retrieved 23 February 2024 – via Gale.
12. "Nicky Whelan on newfound fame and future plans". Who. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
13. "From Neighbours to BJJ - The story of Australian actress, Nicky Whelan". BjjTribes. 2 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
14. Patta, Gig (24 April 2023). "Nicky Whelan on Playing the Damsel in Distress for Once". LRMonline. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
15. Foertsch, Rachel (13 July 2023). "The Flood Producer On Bringing His Latest Creature Feature To Life". Screen Rant. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

External links

• Nicky Whelan at IMDb