Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Scherzinger ( SHUR-zing-ər; née Valiente; born June 29, 1978) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She is the lead singer of the R&B and pop group the Pussycat Dolls, one of the world's best-selling female groups of all time.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Scherzinger began acting at the age of 14 and studied musical theatre at Wright State University. In pursuit of a musical career, Scherzinger accepted an offer to sing background vocals to American rock band Days of the New's second self-titled album and its supporting tour. She later found mild success with Eden's Crush, a girl group created through The WB's television talent competition Popstars. Scherzinger pursued further acting and music opportunities, before gaining international recognition as the lead singer of the girl group the Pussycat Dolls, which released two albums and sold over 55 million records worldwide. Following the group’s initial disbandment, Scherzinger pursued a solo career, releasing the albums Killer Love (2011) and Big Fat Lie (2014).
Scherzinger has served as a judge on television talent shows, including The Sing-Off (2009–2010), The X Factor USA (2011), The X Factor UK (2012–2013, 2016–2017), Australia's Got Talent (2019), and The Masked Singer US (2019–2023). In 2010, she competed on the television dancing competition Dancing with the Stars, in which she won. Other work during this period includes her theatrical roles in Cats (2014) and Sunset Boulevard (2023–2025), as well as roles in the Disney animated film Moana (2016), the ABC film Dirty Dancing (2017), and the NBC special Annie Live! (2021).
During her career, Scherzinger has received nominations for a Grammy, two Laurence Olivier Awards and a Tony Award. She won the 2024 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Norma Desmond in the 2023 West End revival of Sunset Boulevard and received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2025 when the show transferred to Broadway in 2024. Her other ventures include clothing lines; a fragrance; and serving as an ambassador for the Special Olympics and as a supporter of UNICEF UK.
Scherzinger was born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente on June 29, 1978, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Alfonso Valiente and Rosemary Elikolani. Valiente is of Filipino descent and Elikolani is of Native Hawaiian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian descent. Her father divorced her mother and left the family when Scherzinger was two years old. Elikolani then married German-American Gary Scherzinger, who adopted her, and whose surname she eventually took. She has a younger half-sister, Keala. When Scherzinger was six, they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her mother was a clerk and her step-father was a welder. Scherzinger describes her upbringing as difficult as she grew up "without much money" and supported her parents by being a waitress, taking local modelling jobs, and being part of an entertainment troupe of the local amusement park, Kentucky Kingdom. With her grandfather a priest, Scherzinger was raised Roman Catholic and considered herself conservative with "really strong religious beliefs" and would go to church twice a week in order to make her mother proud.
At the age of 14, Scherzinger joined the Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she was cast in her first professional play, La Bête. She graduated in 1996 from the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) at duPont Manual High School, where she participated in many plays, including Alice in Wonderland, in which she portrayed Alice. She was surprised she got the part as she was up "against a girl with blue eyes and blonde hair". In 2007, she was inducted into DuPont Manual Alumni's Hall of Fame as one of the youngest inductees. Since 2013, she has endowed YPAS with a yearly $2,000, namesake scholarship. After earning a scholarship, she attended Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she majored in Theatre Arts with a Dance minor.
During this period, Scherzinger garnered the lead roles in regional productions of the musicals Chicago, Guys and Dolls, and Show Boat. In her final year of college, she was hired by Days of the New band leader Travis Meeks to contribute vocals on their self-titled second studio album. Meeks sought out a singer who could "deliver some more world/operatic textures and sounds." The album's supporting tour followed, which led Scherzinger to drop out of college. Towards the tour's conclusion, Meeks stated that the two grew apart creatively, claiming she "didn't seem to understand music very well" but noted she is an "amazing entertainer". In 2018, she received the 2017 Alumna of the Year Award from the Wright State Alumni Association.
In 2001, Scherzinger's mother saw a commercial for the WB's show Popstars USA, a reality series with the aim to chronicle a music group's formation until the recording of their debut album. Warner Bros. imprint London-Sire Records signed the group to a recording contract before the band was named and had finalized its membership, due to the hours of network television exposure the group would receive. Initially reluctant to audition, Scherzinger later changed her mind, seeing it as an opportunity to travel to Los Angeles. For her audition she sang Whitney Houston's version of Dolly Parton's song "I Will Always Love You".
Along with Ana Maria Lombo, Maile Misajon, Ivette Sosa, and Rosanna Tavarez, Scherzinger established the girl group Eden's Crush. Their debut single, "Get Over Yourself", was released in March 2001 and debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100; it became the first female act to debut at number one on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. Their debut studio album, Popstars (2001), debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart. They went on to tour with 'N Sync and Jessica Simpson, but, by the end of the year, their label went bankrupt and the group disbanded. During this time, will.i.am, front man of The Black Eyed Peas, approached Scherzinger to become a member of the group, but her then-boyfriend, Nick Hexum, declined. Following the band's dissolution, Scherzinger took a detour into acting and guest-starred in television shows such as My Wife and Kids (2002) and had a cameo in the independent comedy, Chasing Papi (2003).
In August 2003, opting for a solo recording contract, Scherzinger traveled to Arista Records office in New York with a demo CD of her own written material under her Hawaiian family name Nicole Kea. Her performance was interrupted by a citywide blackout, and she was forced to leave. Meanwhile, Robin Antin, the creator of the burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls, struck a joint venture with Interscope Records and, along with record producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, launched an open audition for a separate recording group. After Will.i.am recommended Scherzinger to Iovine, she hoped to obtain a solo deal and auditioned in December 2003 along with Melody Thornton joining Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta and Kimberly Wyatt. As the lead singer, Scherzinger assumed the majority of the vocals and is the only member of the group to have songwriting credits on their debut album PCD, which was released in September 2005. The album was preceded by "Don't Cha", which became their international breakthrough, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The album spawned other hits, "Stickwitu" and "Buttons", the former of which was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
In February 2006, Scherzinger signed a global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group, which would cover her future songwriting. Her work as lead singer furthered Scherzinger's popularity as she continued to work on her own music. Scherzinger's first solo recording was a feature on Avant's "Lie About Us" that was released in July 2006 and later collaborated with Sean Combs on "Come to Me", which became Scherzinger's first solo top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. In March 2007, Scherzinger announced that her debut studio album would be titled Her Name is Nicole and was initially scheduled for a release in late summer. Four singles were released from the project—"Whatever U Like" featuring T.I., "Baby Love" featuring will.i.am, "Supervillain", and "Puakenikeni"—however, all failed to make any significant impact on the Billboard charts, although "Baby Love" was a moderate success in international territories. After a number of push backs, Scherzinger decided not to release any further singles from the album and, at her request, Her Name Is Nicole was eventually shelved and shifted back her focus on the Doll's second album.