Nichole Sakura

Nichole Sakura
Portrays	Emily Davis
Occupation	Actress Model
Date of birth	December 15, 1989
Gender	Female
Hair	Brown
Ethnicity	Japanese-American
Also known for	Shameless as Amanda Superstore as Cheyenne Taylor Lee

Nichole Sakura O'Connor (born December 15, 1989), previously artistically known as Nichole Bloom, is an American actress and model. She's known for her roles as Amanda in Showtime's Shameless (2011-2021), and Cheyenne Taylor Lee in NBC's Superstore (2015).

She voiced and motion captured the role of Emily Davis in the game Until Dawn.

Early Life

Nichole was born and raised in California, the San Francisco Bay Area. Her mother is Japanese and her father is Irish American. She loved recreating characters and doing funny voices from a very young age. As a child, she begged her parents to help her get an agent, and then at the age of 14, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She attended Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley, and later attended the University of Southern California as a Theater major and graduated early, after three years. She says it was a challenge for her to get cast in the university's own plays because she dedicated so much of her spare time to professional auditions outside of school.

Career

She started her career off in 2010 in the independent short film, Everyday, where she played the lead role. The next year, in 2011, she starred in another short film, Carpool, opposite Morgan Pavey and Andy Dulman. She gained widespread recognition in 2012 as JB's Girl in Project X, which was a box office success, earning 100.9 million in total box office sales, on a budget of only 12 million. The film received three MTV Movie Award nominations, Best Comedic Performance, Best On-Screen Dirtbag, and Best Music. She continued her success in the same year with the independent film, Model Minority, in which Sakura plays her first lead role.

The film has garnered positive reviews from critics and audiences. The film currently holds a 6.6 from audience viewers. The film won many award from the Sacramento Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Las Vegas Film Festival, etc. Sakura also garnered a Special Jury Prize at the 28th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival for Best New Actress.

She has also done commercial work and modeled for American Apparel.

In 2015, Sakura starred in the horror video game Until Dawn, where she played the character Emily.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Everyday	Nichole O'Connor	Short film
2011	Carpool	Rachel	Short film
2012	Project X	JB's Girl
2012	Model Minority	Kayla Tanaka
2015	Man Up	Kayla
2016	Teenage Cocktail	Annie Fenton	Main role
2017	Lazer Team 2	Maggie Wittington
2023	Suzume	Suzume Ito	Voice; Main role; English dub
2023	Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain	Amy Murphy
2024	The Finnish Line	Elyse

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Teen Wolf	Rinko	2 episodes
2014	Grey's Anatomy	Leanne	1 episode
2014-2016	Shameless	Amanda	17 episodes
2015-2021	Superstore	Cheyenne	Main cast
2017-2019	OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes	Carla, Pepelina, Nanini, Gecky, Bobo	6 episodes
2018-2020	Robot Chicken	Various Characters	2 episodes
2020	Big Hero 6: The Series	Olivia Mole	Voice; 1 episode
2021-2022	Maggie	Louise	Main cast; 13 episodes
2021	Star Wars: Visions	Haru	Voice; Short film: The Village Bride: English dub
2022	Beavis and Butt-Head	Girl	Voice; one episode
2023	Central Park	Voice	2 episodes
2023	Ghosts	Jessica	3 episodes
2023-present	Kliff	Terry Buns and Various roles	Voice; 25 episodes
2025	Royal-ish	Lacey Pope	Hallmark Channel Movie

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Until Dawn	Emily Davis	Voice and motion-capture

Trivia

• During an interview, Nichole mentioned she was offered the role of Emily without an audition, and that she accepted it before getting a description of the character. She believes the actors were cast based on their headshots and other material they’d been in.
• She got a feeling for Emily as she performed, as opposed to tapping into her character beforehand. This was, in part, due to the long script.
  • She said that this worked out for her because she has a side of her personality that is like Emily’s, as neither of them are shy to say what they think.
• She explained Until Dawn’s fast-paced recording environment, saying that she needed to be fluid because all the different dialogue options were recorded for each scene at once before moving on. This element of working on Until Dawn which was “like improv” was one of her favorite things about the project.
• She did not expect the huge fan response to the game and has been blown away by people’s enthusiasm around both loving and hating Emily.
• She stated that her interactions with fans have been positive; she thinks Emily’s fanbase is funny, and she likes jokes comparing her to Lara Croft.
• If she could have a drink with anyone, alive or dead, she would choose the following: her close friends, Houdini, or her future husband.

Notes

• Nichole Sakura previously went by Nichole Bloom, and thus is credited in the game as such. She changed her name in 2020 to Nichole Sakura to honor her mother and Japanese heritage. In the Until Dawn remake, the intro and ending credits now feature her changed surname.

Gallery

Nichole Sakura as seen in Meet The Cast.

Nichole Sakura seen behind the scenes, in From Stage to Screen.

External Links

• Nichole Sakura at the Internet Movie Database
• Nichole Sakura on Twitter