Looking Back

ABOVE //Kimi Nikaidoh gained early experience in front of the camera when she was our magazine cover kid. LEFT // Today Nikaidoh is an accomplished performer based in Los Angeles.

Looking

TAKE ONE (AND TWO)

Before she won a model search, danced professionally and embarked on an acting career, Kimi Nikaidoh was a two-time cover kid: for our October 1987 issue (when we were known as The Children’s Pages) and the December 1993 DallasChild.

“Those covers certainly gave me some early experience performing in front of a camera,” says Nikaidoh, now 40. “So when my grandmother entered me in the [1998] Kim Dawson model search, I probably felt a little less intimidated.”

She was already a seasoned performer by that point, too. Nikaidoh began dancing at age 4; after high school, she was part of North Texas’ ballet community before moving to New York. There, Nikaidoh danced with multiple companies and worked as a choreographer—while earning a degree in neuroscience and behavior from Columbia University, where she met her now-husband Nick.

Nikaidoh returned to Dallas in 2014 to lead Bruce Wood Dance after the founder, her mentor, passed away. The loss was hard, but Nikaidoh enjoyed the time at home. “It was really important to me to help rebuild Bruce’s company, and though that kept me extremely busy, I appreciated the chance to see my family more often,” Nikaidoh says.

In 2018, after years of a longdistance relationship, she left her post with Bruce Wood Dance to join Nick in Los Angeles. Nikaidoh has since immersed herself in the entertainment business, with roles on broadcast and streaming series (American Crime, The Female Gaze) and in commercials (most recently for Microsoft, Peloton and Disney+). “If I had more than one lifetime, I’d love to continue studying neuroscience,” Nikaidoh shares, “but the performing arts keep calling me back.” —Alexis Patterson

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