Melody Thomas Scott (born April 18, 1956 in Los Angeles, California) is an Emmy Award-nominated American actress best known for playing Nikki Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.
Her first film credit was as a child actress in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock movie Marnie. After bit parts in movies the mid-'70s ( most notably in John Wayne's final film The Shootist in 1976), she was offered bit parts on nighttime series such as The Waltons, The Rockford Files, and Charlie's Angels.
In 1979, at the age of 23, she began playing the part of stripper Nikki Reed on the daytime serial The Young and the Restless, choosing the part over a sitcom pilot that in the end was not picked up. She was a replacement for the previous Nikki, who had lasted six months. Over time, her character reformed and became an important part of Genoa City society, as she married Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). Thomas Scott has said, "It's a miracle for an actor to have a job last 28 years," although she finds it frustrating to go through periods when she doesn't have a storyline.
Thomas Scott was parodied in the satire publication The Onion in 1999, in which a picture was edited to show her holding a Daytime Emmy (that year, Susan Lucci won the Emmy after 19 nominations). The caption read: "Awards Given Out Randomly To Skinny Blonde Women".
She has been married to the supervising producer of Y&R, Edward J. Scott, since October 1985. The couple, who have three daughters, Elizabeth, Alexandra, and Jennifer, renewed their vows in an elaborate ceremony that doubled as their 20th wedding anniversary in June 2005.
Thomas Scott has said that her closest friend on the set is Sharon Case.
Scott was one of the original board members of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. She resigned in protest of the Center's behavior under its Executive Director Ric Wyman, on July 17, 2008. (See also SaveLucyDesiCenter.org.)
