About Nikiya
Trained to act. Called to design.
"Sometimes there's no blueprint. But God, the Master Architect, will draft the perfect one for you."
Nikiya Mathis is an actress, hair and wig designer, educator and entrepreneur, and the first wig designer in history to receive a Special Tony Award, honored in 2024 for her work on Jaja's African Hair Braiding.
She earned her MFA in Acting at NYU, and that training shapes everything she designs. She knows what it feels like to wear the hair, not just build it. Her Broadway credits include School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Imaginary Invalid, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Purpose, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Death of a Salesman, Once Upon a One More Time, Liberation, Chicken & Biscuits and Home. On screen, she has designed for Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and Danai Gurira.
She still acts, too, with recurring roles on Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Snowfall, Love Life and BrainDead. On stage, she originated roles in Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney's The Brother/Sister Plays, Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew and Kirsten Greenidge's Milk Like Sugar. A proud graduate of Newark's University High School and Temple University, she leads a full design team and internship program, teaches twice a year at NYU Tisch, and runs her own wig brand, Our Black Tresses.
Her Story
The merge.
"As a young actor, I was told that if there was anything else I could do, I should do that." Nikiya kept acting anyway. But something in her spirit wouldn't let up on the other thing: hair.
2008
Graduates from NYU Tisch. Acts in Danai Gurira's Eclipsed, and braids a castmate's hair so she won't have to travel to New York on her only day off. Then the New York premiere of The Brother/Sister Plays at the Public.
2016
Originates Shanita in Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew at Atlantic Theater, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Her character has a monologue about merging. It becomes her theme for the year.
2017
Her first recurring TV role, on BrainDead. When Skeleton Crew closes, she feels like she's putting her destiny in other people's hands. She teaches voice at NYU, shares her grandma's HAIRstory online, and friends keep asking her to do their hair.
2018
Sharon Washington, who had been buying wigs from her for years, gives Nikiya her first official New York design credit on Feeding the Dragon. She names her approach HAIRversations. She starts to merge.
2024
The first wig designer ever to receive a Special Tony Award, for Jaja's African Hair Braiding. Now: Seven Guitars, a play she once acted in, designed for the director who once directed her.
"God might make you merge. Who knows? The blessing could be at the crossroads or the pivot..."
In Her Words
"I didn't know that hair would go from being a hobby to healing. It's ministry for me."
"My mom was a teacher, so I've always seen her serve. She instilled in me a heart of service."
Drama Desk Award acceptance: why wig design is a kind of therapy.
With Phylicia Rashad and LaTanya Richardson Jackson at Black Women on Broadway.
Credits & honors
Awards
Special Tony Award, 2024
Drama Desk Awards (2), including Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Henry Hewes Design Awards (3), including Notable Effects
AAFCA honoree, African American Film Critics Association
Obie Award
Broadway Black Awards (2)
Kathleen Perkins Behind the Curtain Award, Black Women on Broadway
Broadway Hair & Wig Design
Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Once Upon a One More Time
Liberation
Purpose
The Heart of Rock & Roll
Imaginary Invalid
Death of a Salesman
Chicken & Biscuits
Home
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Now (Off-Broadway)
August Wilson's Seven Guitars, directed by Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Imitation of Life, the new musical written by Lynn Nottage
Regional & Off-Broadway
Feeding the Dragon (first New York design credit)
Goddess, Berkeley · Crazy Sexy Cool, Arena Stage · Wine in the Wilderness, Classic Stage Company
Coming
Warriors, the new Lin-Manuel Miranda musical
Purpose in London
Television & Film
Design
Wigs for Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and Danai Gurira
Acting
Power Book III: Raising Kanan (recurring)
Snowfall (recurring)
Love Life, BrainDead (recurring)
The Blacklist, Chicago Med, Blue Bloods, The Night Of, New Amsterdam, The Last O.G.
Stage: roles originated
The Brother/Sister Plays, Tarell Alvin McCraney
Skeleton Crew, Dominique Morisseau
Milk Like Sugar, Kirsten Greenidge
Teaching
NYU Tisch, Graduate Design and Graduate Acting (recurring masterclasses)
Masterclasses and HAIRversations at Yale, Princeton, Temple, UConn, Sam Houston State University, NAATC, Black Theatre United, the Billie Holiday Theatre and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Education
MFA in Acting, New York University
Temple University
University High School, Newark, NJ
The Business
Our Black Tresses
Nikiya's wig brand and design company serves theater and live performance, with a team of associates, supervisors and crew leads, plus an internship program training the next generation of hair artists.
Visit Our Black Tresses →