Nina Muschallik - A Bright-Eyed Actress whose warm persona shone through in her on-screen characters.
	June 24th 2022
	A previously unused headshot Nina provided this site with when interviewed in 2012
	Nina Muschallik, whose sad loss at the age of 44 was recently discussed for the first time by her long-time friend and Dream Team co-star Frances Ruffelle, was a much-loved daughter, sister, auntie and friend who brought a lot of love, friendship and happiness to all who knew her, lighting up the film and TV sets she graced along the way. Nina passed away on May 27th 2020 after a long illness, the news to the greater public now trickling through following her family’s initial request for privacy which has since been respected by her friends. Here on this page we’ll be paying tribute to Nina’s life and accomplishments. She was a woman who, as you will gather, never wasted a moment of life. The middle of three sisters, Nina was born in High Wycombe on 11th May 1976. She trained at Maidenhead's Redroofs Theatre School studying acting, dancing and singing. At the age of only 13 she achieved her television debut in "Kappatoo", an ITV children's drama, playing Lucy, the sister of the show's eponymous character across the show's two series (1990-92). Continuing at Redroofs, the talent in Nina's small class was evident, and in her same year was Kate Winslet. "She was so good at everything in the shows we put on. Not like me - I was a terrible singer so in all the shows they had to give me the part where there was the most acting and the least singing" Nina in a 2003 Front Magazine interview. Although her own worst critic regarding her singing, Nina graduated from the London Studio Centre in 1997 with a Diploma in Musical Theatre and landed a gig as a backing singer on "Top of the Pops", seen here accompanying American singer Jennifer Paige with her Top 5 hit "Crush" a year later. The acting roles continued coming her way. For a period it appeared casting directors made the most of both Nina's comedy and glamorous side with a few aptly-named characters. Fifi in "Let Them Eat Cake", Saucy Wood Nymph in "Guest House Paradiso" (both 1999), and a memorable advertising campaign for Pot Noodle, “The Slag of all Snacks” One of her many jobs that saw her see the world, the fondly-remembered commercial where only Nina's prostitute character would indulge with a punter in the naughtiest of snacks, was filmed in Prague. Discussing it with Ice Magazine in 2002, she recalled the outfit she had to wear: "I was all in rubber. It was really tight, I needed talcum powder to get it on!" followed by the Daily Star in 2003: "Someone told me it had been banned. But it was such a laugh to do." But it was another sultry-named siren which landed Nina the role she literally would be asked about for the rest of her life. As Verushka in Michael Apted's directed "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) one of Zukovsky's (Robbie Coltrane) girls, she recalled "I was a prostitute as well (laughs) a high-class one this time. I was perched on Robbie Coltrane's desk being fed caviar, when Bond strides in and tells him to get rid of the girls." The Bond franchise wasn't Nina's only dabble in big screen blockbusters. The year before she and sister Abbe were in France for Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", in which she portrayed Ryan's Granddaughter. 2001 was a busy year, with trips to Bulgaria and Zimbabwe for further film roles "Death, Deceit & Destiny Aboard the Orient Express" and "High Explosive". It was while she was filming for the TV series "Goal" that Nina went up for a regular part in Sky One's football-based serial "Dream Team", having already made a brief appearance as a shop assistant during the show's fourth season. That first episode would, by the time Nina exited the role four years later, see her reach 100 episodes of the hour-long drama, a tally making her the series' third highest appearing actress. Nina was the unlucky-in-love and often downtrodden team co-ordinator Nikki Peggs, until her third season when her potential as a football agent was realised. In an interview with this site in 2012, she described the affect Nikki's poor run of luck had on her: "I remember I got a really bad frown line in between my eyebrows from scenes where I was always crying or getting upset!" A co-star of Nina's whose friendship extended before and after the show was Angela Saunders, who also paid tribute to her friend: “Nina was a friend that could put a smile on your face and make you feel special when you needed it the most! Her infectious laugh and cheeky personality meant you could never be anything other than happy in her company. I knew Nina from college days and then throughout the Dream Team years where we grew closer and became true partners in crime.. I hadn’t seen her for a while and was truly devastated to find out she had passed but my memories are locked safely away in my heart and will be there to be cherished forever” Nina kept busy both on and off screen following her Dream Team departure. A contestant on "Celebrity Fear Factor" (2004), and seen in her friend Lisa Scott-Lee's MTV reality series "Totally Scott-Lee" (2005) while her film career continued with the part of a stock broker in 2009's "Knife Edge." The 2010's saw Nina using her kind nature for others on a number of ventures. She co-ran a company that supplied hair and make-up artists for brides, NK Hair and Beauty. She also shared her talent and experience in acting as a coach and tutor for children looking to get their early breaks into the industry. “She’s my LAMDA teacher” a comment from one of Nina’s students which still remains on her showreel. By 2015, it was being reported that Nina owned her acting schools. What would be Nina's final screen role, 2016's "Lost Soul", was an independent short horror produced by Robo Films. A lot of the decade had seen Nina in another happy place - meeting fans for chats, signings and posing for many-a-picture at various film and TV conventions. It is believed The Film Fair at Conway Hall in April 2019 was her last public appearance. Other archive interviews for Nina: Loaded Magazine (January 2003) Time For An Early Bath? - Nuts (November 2004) harchesterunited.org interview retrieved by the Internet Archive WayBack Machine (October 2011)