Nichole Sakura

Nichole Sakura O'Connor was born to a Japanese mother and a white father in Santa Clara County, California. She has Irish ancestry from the paternal side of her family.[1] She was raised in San Francisco and usually spent her summers as a child visiting relatives in Japan.[2] She went to Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley and later attended the University of Southern California, to which she graduated after three years as a Theater major.[3]

She had the recurring role of Amanda on Shameless from 2014 to 2016.

In 2015, Sakura starred in the music video for one of Phantoms’ two singles, “Broken Halo,” from their EP of the same name.[4] Later that year, she was added to the main cast of the NBC sitcom Superstore as Cheyenne, a 17-year-old store employee who is pregnant at the start of the series.[5]

She had voice roles in numerous animated film and television series, including Suzume, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Kiff, and Central Park.[6][7]

Her stage name was originally Nichole Bloom (the last name derived from her Japanese name Sakura, for cherry blossom); she changed it to her real name of Nichole Sakura in August 2020,[8] announcing through Instagram that she had reclaimed her real name for her acting credits to honor her mother and her Japanese heritage. She stated that she had taken her original stage name out of fear in being typecast into stereotypical Asian roles.

• Nichole Sakura at IMDb
• Nichole Sakura on Instagram
• Nichole Sakura on Twitter