Austin Nichols - Early Life

Early Life

Austin Nichols was born on April 24, 1980 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and moved to Austin, Texas before he was a year old. He was named after the Austin, Nichols distilling company, producers of Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. His father, David Nichols, is a radiologist, and his mother, Kay Nichols, is a professional trick water skier. Kay has been a national champion ten times and an international champion once. He has one older sister, Ashley.

Nichols was raised on Lake Austin and attended Casis Elementary School. Nichols began competitive water skiing from the age of two. He represented the US Junior Water Ski Team in the Pan-American Championships in 1997, and was also on the Junior US Olympic Water Skiing team. At age thirteen, he was ranked third in the world. Nichols had intended to become a professional water skier until he injured his shoulder in Florida, and was forced to give up the sport. While at McCallum High School in central Austin, he played basketball but was "absolutely awful". Nichols' interest in acting was sparked when he was fifteen years old and he began to take acting lessons. He moved to Los Angeles after high school, where he currently lives.