Nicole Scherzinger

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Scherzinger began acting at the age of 14 and studied musical theatre at Wright State University. In pursuit of a musical career, Scherzinger dropped out of college and toured with the American rock band Days of the New before finding mild success with Eden's Crush, a girl group created through The WB's talent competition show Popstars. After taking on minor acting roles, Scherzinger became the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. Scherzinger carved out a solo career outside the group; her debut album, Her Name is Nicole, was shelved due to insufficient commercial response from its promotional singles. However, her debut album was released as Killer Love (2011)—which was supported by the singles "Right There" (featuring 50 Cent), "Poison" and "Don't Hold Your Breath"—followed by its sequel, Big Fat Lie (2014). Both albums failed to chart domestically, although they found moderate success on international charts.

Scherzinger has served as a judge on television talent shows, including The Sing-Off (2009–2010), The X Factor UK (2010, 2012–2013, 2016–2017), The X Factor USA (2011), Australia's Got Talent (2019), and The Masked Singer (2019–2023). In 2010, she competed on the television dancing competition show Dancing with the Stars, in which she won. Other work during this period includes her theatrical roles in Cats (2014) and Sunset Boulevard (2023–2025), as well as roles in the Disney animated film Moana (2016), the ABC film Dirty Dancing (2017), and the NBC special Annie Live! (2021).

In December 2014, Scherzinger made her West End debut starring as Grizabella in the 2014 revival of the musical Cats at the London Palladium where she played the role for a 12-week run until February 8, 2015. Scherzinger returned to the West End starring as Norma Desmond in the 2023 revival of Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy Theatre. For her performance in the West End, Scherzinger received the 2023 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical Performance and the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In 2024, she made her Broadway debut in the same role in the transfer of the production to the St. James Theatre, which later earned her multiple awards including the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She has since been in talks to possibly reprise her role in the film adaptation of the musical, which has been in development since 2019. On June 16, 2024, Scherzinger performed "What I Did for Love (A Chorus Line)" to accompany the In memoriam segment of the 77th Tony Awards.