Nina grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, CA, so she never had stars in her eyes or dreams of fame and fortune. But, she did have an immeasurable passion to perform and a need to turn that passion into her career. Few would know of this desire, as she never garnered for the spotlight or was particularly outgoing growing up.

When Nina first performed on stage in high school as Emily Webb from Our Town, most of the students and faculty were shocked. The shy girl who sits in the corner of class not only auditioned for, but also got the lead in the play? Yes, because that shy girl also has stories to tell, and when put in someone else’s shoes like the charmingly naive Webb or the confident and bold Rosalind (from As You Like It), her true colors are revealed.

She continued to perform at school and at a local theater, Theatricum Botanicum, started by the 50s singer, actor and activist Will Geer.  This brought her to the logical choice of majoring in theater in college, and soon enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. However, the dogmatic nature of The Atlantic Theater Co, where she studied, clashed with much of what she believed in—most importantly, bringing a part of yourself to each role. The passion started to dwindle and she had to rethink her next step.

After some self-evaluation, she transferred to UC Berkeley where she pursued and obtained a BA in English. While living in Berkeley and San Francisco, she ended up doing more acting than she ever did in NY and became determined to pursue it to the fullest extent, which inevitably brought her back home to Los Angeles.