Unknown Actress as… Nile
| Cinematic Twist | Chameleon |
|---|
| Sex | Female |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | December 10th, 1980 |
| Age | 28 |
| Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
| Aliases | None |
| Place of Birth | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Relatives | Mother, Father, Older Sister (All Unnamed) |
| Significant Other | None |
| Pros | Guru, Nominee |
| Cons | Insufficient Funds, Token |
| First On-Screen Appearance | TBA |
Background
Some people are gifted with musical virtuosity, technical excellence that far exceeds levels even skilled musicians can only dream of attaining; others are not despite how talented they might be at their chosen instruments. Nile Ralston falls into the latter category. Born twenty eight years ago in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nile was surrounded by music from the moment her existence began: it’d be awfully difficult to escape music’s influence when your entire family performs as a popular local band. Playing a mix of jazz, blues, and rock n’ roll, Nile’s mother, father, and older sister formed the core of a group that had acquired a healthy degree of success playing shows around the Johannesburg area. After watching an exceptionally strong performance by her family one night as she had usually done, Nile was inspired to pick up a guitar for the first time when she was six years old, an action her parents strongly encouraged. Unfortunately, Nile quickly found out that she did not have much in the way of traditional music ability: learning how to read music proved almost frustratingly impossible for the young girl (to this day she still can’t read much beyond simple guitar tablature), although nothing proved so difficult to remember as the techniques – scales, tunings, chords, and such – even rudimentary players usually have no trouble mastering. However, at the same time, Nile found out she excelled at two elements of guitar playing: improvisation and power. Despite a near-complete lack of technical ability, Nile had an ear for playing emotionally and powerfully, much like the blues musicians her family revered. A blues guitarist with formal training is an almost unheard of anomaly, so why should Nile let her technical limitations get in the way of playing what she wanted to play?
Beyond playing guitar by herself and - later, as a teenager, when she was ready to hop onto the stage for occasional performances - with her family, Nile’s childhood and teenage years encompassed little else outside of school. An average student in most respects, the only classes Nile ever excelled in were writing and history, while she struggled in nearly all of the science and mathematics courses she took. Regardless of how much Nile disliked these subjects, she applied just as much effort towards studying them as she would have if she was writing songs for fun or playing her guitar. Extensive studying tended to leave little free time for the young woman to indulge in the more social side of the education system, however, although Nile did not seem to mind the lack of school friends. As far Nile was concerned, her family, her guitar, and her eclectic collection of vinyl records were the best friends she could have had at that time.
Upon graduating from high school at the age of eighteen, Nile chose to attend a small local college in Johannesburg so she could continue to perform gigs with her parents and sister; she had intended to make a living playing and recording music with her family members since the young woman first picked up an instrument. Unusually for a smaller school, the college offered degree programs in music history and production, prompting Nile to jump at the opportunity to learn even more about her beloved hobby and future vocation. The standard four years in college passed by at an effortless pace for Nile. Considering Nile already had a fairly extensive (and predominantly self-learned and self-researched) background in music history and an innate talent for production, that BA almost seemed too easy to attain. However, the actual knowledge Nile learned in the college classroom paled in comparison to what she learned outside of it: it was in the university environment where Nile first began to interact and socialize with fellow musicians outside her own family. Several such musicians even shared Nile’s eclectic taste in sounds, and they became fast friends within her first year, spending much of their time jamming together whenever Nile wasn't performing with the family band. Eventually, the group collectively decided to travel to Los Angeles after graduation and try to establish a career there. Los Angeles, a city steeped in a rich, multi-faceted musical background and famed for its wide breadth and acceptance of different genres, offered far more opportunities to burgeoning musicians in comparison to the limited Johannesburg scene. Although somewhat hesitant to leave her family behind so soon after graduation, both Nile’s father and mother encouraged their daughter to leave for the sake of opportunity, advice that she took to heart.
She has been living in Los Angeles for the past six years now, working hard and playing shows at every opportunity with her friends from the university, in addition to establishing relationships with several musicians she has met in the city. While much of her time has been spent gigging with these various groups, Nile has also dedicated a significant amount of effort towards teaching herself how to play other instruments and creating songs for a solo project in which she plans on recording, mixing, and producing the entire product by herself; a daunting task that has yet to see the light of day after several years of labor.
Personality
Nile is an outsider. For a city as diverse as Los Angeles, the young woman only feels welcome within two groups: the LBGT community and LA's thriving underground music scene. With the former either discriminated against or viewed as a distant but amusing curiosity and the latter virtually ignored by many outside either subculture, Nile would be considered a deviant in mainstream America. She certainly doesn't behave like the stereotype, however.
Well-mannered, kind-hearted, introspective, deliberate, and incredibly tolerant, Nile strikes a remarkably chivalrous image amongst the chaotic and often unforgiving backdrop of LA. Nile doesn't drink, smoke, or do much of anything that the traditional parent could find fault with outside a bizarre fashion sense and eclectic music taste. No genre of music lies outside Nile's range of interest - she has been in bands of nearly every stripe through her time in LA, and she possesses enough experience and knowledge of numerous types of music to fit in comfortably with both elitist audiophiles and casual listeners. That's not to say she doesn't play favorites - Nile must have one of the most extensive funk and goth vinyl collections in the entire West Coast - but her open-mindedness and excitability towards exploring sounds she is unfamiliar with are central to Nile's persona.
Androgyny is almost as important to Nile's personality as music is. Adhering little to masquline or feminine ideals, Nile acts and dresses in a largely asexual and ambiguous fashion. This is one of the primary reasons why Nile has so readily embraced LA's large LBGT subculture and vice versa.
On-Screen Appearances
Date
Name of Scene —> the DL
Quotes
Inspiration
Nile is a combination of many disparate influences, although the numerous musicians who inspired me to create her are probably the most integral. Films like The Hunger, Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, The Lost Boys, and Interstella 5555 also had an influence on the character's aesthetic.
