Multi-talented actor Austin Nichols effectively straddled industry films and smaller, low-budget independent productions when he debuted onscreen in the early 2000s. With a fresh-faced, clean-cut look that spoke to his heightened versatility in many roles, Nichols landed his first major feature assignment in Richard Loncraine's quirky romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004) -- with a memorable turn as a snotty, obnoxious American tennis player trying desperately to seduce Kirsten Dunst. Following small roles in the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Jerry Bruckheimer's period basketball saga Glory Road (2006), Nichols "went indie" with a part in the low-budget drama Lenexa, 1 Mile. He also landed a plum role on the HBO series John From Cincinnati, as a mystically powered surfer, but that program failed to connect with an audience and received a cancellation after only one season. Off-camera, Nichols was a champion athlete who ranked third in the international pantheon of water skiers and won the 1997 Pan American championship in that sport; he also demonstrated great prowess in equestrianism, golf, and tennis, which more than prepared him for the Wimbledon role.
Austin Nichols
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- Competitive water skier who, in 1997, represented the U.S. Junior Water Ski Team in the Pan-American Championships.
- Discovered by a manager during his senior year of high school, when he crashed a party at the Sundance Film Festival.
- Learned to play tennis for 2004's Wimbledon and basketball for 2006's Glory Road, and took up surfing for 2007's John From Cincinnati.
- After making guest appearances on Deadwood and Six Feet Under, was signed to a relatively uncommon talent-holding deal with HBO. The network made good on the contract by casting him as the lead in the short-lived John From Cincinnati.
- Golfs, rides horses and is an avid movie fan.