Nicole Basta

Born in Singapore, the first daughter of an Italian- Canadian business man and a South-Korean stewardess, Nicole had the privilege of having lived in 8 different countries by the age of 12. Accustomed to travel and change, it is with no surprise that she acquired a penchant for languages: she speaks fluent English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Under her mother's strict upbringing, she had a rigorous schedule since childhood, she started to play piano at the age of 3 and obtained her Performance Diploma at the age of 16. She attended the prestigious Conservatorio di Giuseppe Verdi in Italy, and she also learned to play the violin, achieving grade 8 due to the fact that she had to attend the University of Toronto, where she evidently studied Languages and Literature (Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese.) She was the first violinist in the Kuala Lumpur Youth Symphony Orchestra, and was also part of the Bangkok Youth Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, she received both the Awards of Excellence in French and Spanish. Throughout her childhood she possessed an unbridled passion for theatre, film and television, and with her mother's approval and encouragement, she signed on with an agency where she began to take part in commercials and advertisements in Europe and Asia since the age of 3, facilitated by her dual citizenship (Canadian and Italian). As education was of utmost importance, she applied and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, receiving a Merit Scholarship for both years. She had the lead role in numerous plays from Euripides' Electra to the more contemporary plays, and her personal favourites, the young Adela in Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba and Leeann in A Piece of My Heart. Bounty in ambition and intellect, she was also good at sports, a striker in her Varsity Soccer team and was also in Varsity Touch Rugby in High School, and took part in dance exchanges, she had studied ballet during her childhood, but also delved in modern dance. Upon her graduation at AADA, she returned to her native Toronto, and within the month, she signed on with an acting agency, and shortly after became an ACTRA member. She has appeared in numerous commercials, including Coca-Cola, Coors Light, Estée Lauder, Nike, I-Key iPod, VivoCity Singapore shopping mall to name a few, and she now continues to improve her craft at the Pro Actors Lab.