Soon production companies took notice and Nicole found herself being headhunted by "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" Producer Georgia Masters, whom she'd worked with previously on the BAFTA nominated "One Night Stand" starring Jemma Redgrave and James Purefoy. During this time she accumulated the experience and hands on education she needed to follow her passion in the movie industry business as an actress and a writer.

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Several plays and a couple of independent films later, she decided to relocated to L.A. working hard for the American dream, she began to see the fruits of her labor, landing a lead road in the independent short "When the Lights go Down" and more recently a pilot "S.O.S I'm a Woman". More recently winning many awards for starring in the foreign-language film 'I Am Neda', a passion project which was also her
directorial debut at the 65th Cannes International Film Festival's American Pavilion. An Iranian language film with English subtitles, based on a true story of the young Iranian woman Neda Agha Soltan whose murder went viral for the world to see, 'I Am Neda' has received a lot of attention from the press such as the Huffington Post and legendary film critics like F.X. Feeney of LA Weekly for its heartwarming yet
controversial subject matter.

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Being a passionate advocate of many causes, Nicole is keenly committed to championing human rights across the globe and is often approached as a keynote spokesperson on behalf of numerous non-profit human rights and nongovernmental organization both domestically and internationally. She was also a former fellow researcher at the Center for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy for Iran. Nicole’s parents are the famous Persian journalists Nader Sadighi and Shahla Arasteh, so you could say it runs in the family. She not only has an artistic flair as a creative writer but has been a freelance writer for many leading publications and newspapers, for a number of years.

 

One of Nicole's most prominent invitations was from the famous group 'Hands Off Cain' in Rome, Italy, where she was invited alongside distinguished panelists, Italian politicians Marco Pannella and Daniele Capezzone. The conference was held in support of the UN General Assembly Resolution for the universal moratorium on capital punishment, which was also presented to the European Commission.

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Fortune led her to find the insight and inspiration to write, produce and direct her very first award-winning short film, 'I Am Neda', which she starred in as Neda, while also adding another hyphenate in front of her name as director. It was at this time she founded her own production company Persepolis Pictures. The film has since won 11 awards and has received 21 nominations at different film festivals, such as USA Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival's American Pavilion. Including nominations for Best Actress for her performance as Neda, Best Director and Best Screenplay. In an interview with the BBC, Nicole commented: "As an actress who wore many hats for the making of I Am Neda, to also be recognized for my written and directorial debut is beyond thrilling. This film has been a huge endeavor for me, and there were so many challenges on the way. It has given me new found respect for the "Clint Eastwoods'" of the world who have not only written and directed but at times have starred in their own movies."

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She will begin production on her next project "PULSE", in early 2019.

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Nicole has been interviewed and featured by The Huffington Post, BBC, Women's Media Center, Universal Film Magazine, LA Observed, Los Angeles Times, AP, Paris Match, The Arts and Entertainment Magazine, Javanan Magazine, Javanan Radio, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Christian Science Monitor, Radio Vaticana, Le Monde, France24, FrontPage Magazine, AndishehTV, Kayhan London, The Iranians, Political Online, China Central TV, C-Span and many more.