Ashlynn Niel

**Children** | 2

**Ashlynn Rolene Niel** (born 19 January 1987) is a Zimbabwean-Hawaiian actress and model. She is the recipient of one Academy Award, and has additionally been nominated for two further awards and four BAFTA Awards.

Born in Harare, Niel and her family moved to Cape Town in 1990, until moving to Honolulu in 1993, where she was raised. She began a career as child model at age eight, and later ventured into acting by age 12, appearing in mainly commercials. Niel began her career as a professional actress in 2004, when she was cast as Emma Lucy in the Hawaii TV soap opera *Lilac Beach* (2004–2006). Niel departed from the series in 2006, after she was cast in a main role as Darcy Davenport in the Hawaii Blu comedy-drama *Bella* (2006–2009), which became her acting breakthrough. For her role as Darcy, Niel became a teen idol within Hawaii. Buoyed by the success of *Bella*, Niel later starred in the successful teen comedy *The Rich Kids of Honolulu* (2007) and the mature comedy-drama *Hustling* (2009), until being cast in the Hawaii TV police procedural *Hawaii's Finest* (2009–2012) as Detective Jane Carter.

Niel made her international breakthrough in 2013, in the black comedy *Up and Away* (2013). Following a move to Los Angeles, her acting profile began to grow with roles in *Unforgettable* (2014), *Bedtime Story* (2016), and *Lint* (2016). Niel received critical acclaim for her role as a drug addicted young mother in the drama film *Me, Martina* (2017), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She continued to receive acclaim for her roles in *Juárez* (2018), *It's a Jungle* (2019), and *Nerve* (2019), receiving the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the former of the three.

## Early life and education

Niel was born on 19 January 1987 in Harare to parents Dirk Niel (born 1955) and Lucie Niel-Peters (née *Peters*; born 1957). Both of her parents are Zimbabwean Afrikaners, and Niel was raised speaking Afrikaans. Her father's family were originally dairy farmers, and later founded the successful Niel Dairy Company in the 1940s, which sold dairy products throughout Africa. Her mother was a social anthropologist who taught at the University of Zimbabwe. Niel was raised in the affluent Avondale suburb of Harare, and is the elder of two children; her younger brother is Devon (born 1988).

Following the rise to power of Robert Mugabe in December 1987, the family began to suffer under his anti-Afrikaner policies. They fled to South Africa in 1990, settling in Cape Town, where Dirk relocated the family business and Lucie was hired at Stellenbosch University. After arriving in Cape Town, the family settled in nearby Stellenbosch. In 1992, Niel enrolled in an Afrikaans-language school in Stellenbosch, but left after one year when her family left South Africa to immigrate to Hawaii.

In 1993, Niel's mother was hired as a tenured professor at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and the family moved to Hawaii, settling in the Hawaii Kai neighborhood of Honolulu. After arriving in Honolulu, Niel's father sold their dairy business for $565 million, and later founded his own business consulting firm. Niel enrolled in Punahou School, an independent, coeducational, preparatory school, where she became interested in the arts. She began high school at Punahou in 2001, where she was a popular student, and graduated with her high school diploma in 2005. Despite initial plans to return to South Africa to pursue a degree in marketing, Niel instead opted to remain in Hawaii and continue acting.

## Awards and nominations

*Main article: Awards and nominations received by Ashlynn Niel*