Nikki Martin

Nikki Martin (legal name Nicole Heaps)[https://twitter.com/BrendaHeaps/status/201848148971360256 Twitter / BrendaHeaps: @bflay @foodnetwork What a ...]. Retrieved November 7, 2012.[http://blog.foodnetwork.com/star-talk/2012/04/28/star-a-day-nikki-martin Star-a-Day: Nikki Martin | Star Blog]. Retrieved November 7, 2012.[https://www.facebook.com/GrillNextDoor/info Food Network Star Nikki Martin - About | Facebook]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. is an American lifestyle TV personality, author and celebrity chef, currently based in Los Angeles, California. She is perhaps best known as a chef on the eighth season of the Food Network series Food Network Star.

Early life

Martin was born in Long Beach, CA. At the young age of 17, she moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in entertainment. After a few television shows, movie appearances and a short stint at Harvard University, she decided her path was in lifestyle TV and the culinary arts. She has no formal culinary training and actually had attended Harvard to study and pursue medicine. But after realizing her path was set for the big screen and a life of creative endeavors, she merged her two passions of food and entertainment. In 2010, Martin auditioned for a Food Network show to begin her new career as a celebrity chef and lifestyle TV personality.[http://fastfood.ocregister.com/2012/06/15/oc-native-climbs-the-culinary-ladder-to-food-network/156800 O.C. native competing in ‘Food Network Star’ show - Fast Food Maven : The Orange County Register]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. Martin graduated from Aliso Niguel High School in 1998. Today Martin resides in Los Angeles, as a private chef for various A-list celebrities. She has founded one of the Top Underground Dinner Clubs in the US known as The Roulette Society. She has a pop culture cookbook titled The Burn CookBook based on the cult classic flick Mean Girls. The book is being published by Grand Central Publishing and is set to be released Fall of 2018 with her authoring partner and actor, Jonathan Bennett.{{cite news |last1=Fecteau |first1=Jessica |title=Mean Girls' Jonathan Bennett Wants to 'Make Fetch-uccine Alfredo Happen' with the Burn Cookbook |url=https://people.com/food/mean-girls-burn-cookbook-jonathan-bennett/ |accessdate=29 November 2018 |work=PEOPLE.com |date=3 October 2018 |language=en}}

Early media roles and Food Network

Martin has appeared on numerous television shows, including Titus, Scrubs and Birds of Prey; as well as films like Sorority Boys and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0993614 Nikki Martin – IMDb]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. She appeared on the Food Network series 24 Hour Restaurant Battle in July 2011,[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1997623 "24 Hour Restaurant Battle" Episode #2.10 (TV episode 2011) – IMDb]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. competing with her best friend, Dana Chaney.[http://www.foodnetwork.com/24-hour-restaurant-battle/city-vs-country/index.html City vs. Country : 24 Hour Restaurant Battle : Food Network]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. Since her first Food Network appearance she has been featured as a celebrity chef on several food and lifestyle programming including Chopped Grill Masters, Bravo's hit show Going Off the Menu and is most remembered for her participation in the series Food Network Star; where Martin made a name for herself in the grilling world as "The Grill Next Door".

=''Food Network Star''=

In May 2012, Martin was chosen as a contestant on Food Network Star, season 8; she was mentored by Bobby Flay. She originally used the tagline “girl-on-grill”,[https://news.yahoo.com/next-food-network-star-whos-going-win-season-183400957.html 'The Next Food Network Star': Who's Going to Win Season 8 - Yahoo! News]. Retrieved November 7, 2012.The term is a play on the phrase “girl-on-girl”. but because Food Network president Bob Tuschman found the double entendre to be too risqué,[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/the-next-food-network-star The Next Food Network Star - Show Tracker - latimes.com]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. she subsequently started calling herself “the grill next door”.[http://foodiepleasure.com/2012/07/26/the-grill-next-door The Grill Next Door | FoodiePleasure]. Retrieved November 7, 2012. Martin was eliminated from the show on July 15, placing in the top six.[http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/07/birminghams_martie_duncan_is_a.html Birmingham's Martie Duncan is a 'Food Network Star' finalist (updated) | al.com]. Retrieved November 7, 2012.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable sortable"
width="75px" \| Year ! width="200px" \| Title ! width="150px" \| Role ! Notes
2002 \| Sorority Boys \| Tri Pi \|
rowspan = "2" \| 2003 \| Cradle 2 the Grave \| Ring Girl \|
Looney Tunes: Back in Action \| Wooden Nickel Waitress \|
2006 \| Diamondz n da Ruff \| Mercedez \|
2012 \|DisOrientation \| Jenny \|

class="wikitable sortable"

width="75px" | Year

! width="200px" | Title

! width="150px" | Role

! Notes

2002

| Sorority Boys

| Tri Pi

rowspan = "2" | 2003

| Cradle 2 the Grave

| Ring Girl

Looney Tunes: Back in Action

| Wooden Nickel Waitress

2006

| Diamondz n da Ruff

| Mercedez

2012

|DisOrientation

| Jenny

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable"
width="75px" \| Year ! width="200px" \| Title ! width="150px" \| Role ! Notes
rowspan = "2" \| 2001 \| Scrubs \| Nurse \| 1 episode
Titus \| Cheerleader \| 1 episode
2003 \| Birds of Prey \| Marryann Travis \| 1 episode
2011 \| 24 Hour Restaurant Battle \| Herself \|
2012 \| Food Network Star \| Herself \| 10 episodes
2013 \|Food Saver Infomercial \| Herself \| 1 episode
2016 \| MasterChef Junior \| Herself \| 1 episode
2017 \| Chopped Grill Masters: Battle 4 \| Herself \| 1 episode

class="wikitable sortable"

width="75px" | Year

! width="200px" | Title

! width="150px" | Role

! Notes

rowspan = "2" | 2001

| Scrubs

| Nurse

| 1 episode

Titus

| Cheerleader

| 1 episode