Nikki Vella: ‘I started to enjoy Pride and Prejudice for my O Level thanks to Colin Firth’

Nikki Vella has been singing since the age of nine, where she focused on vocal training and classical singing. A few years later she entered the musical theatre scene in Malta and starred in some of the most popular musical such as Phantom of The Opera, Secret Garden, Fame, The Sound of Music and The Addams Family musical. During the day, Vella works as an operating theatre nurse specialised in orthopaedic surgery and as a side line, she is also a qualified aesthetic nurse injector.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Wash my face and brush my teeth.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Not to care too much about what others think about me. Life is simply, too short.

What do you never leave the house without?

Lip-gloss, keys, stroller, phone and baby. Not necessarily in that order.

Pick three words that describe yourself.

Loyal, a scatterbrain and slightly quirky.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

My children.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Watching period drama TV shows.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

To cherish each and every moment.

Property and cars aside what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

A Bvglari ring.

What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?

I wish I had been able to recognise when people or situations weren’t good for me and get out straight away.

Who’s your inspiration?

My husband. He inspires me to be a better version of myself.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Having to readjust my life after losing both my parents within months of each other.

Do you believe in God?

Yes.

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be?

My parents.

What’s your worst habit?

Not removing my make-up before bed.

What are you like when you’re drunk?

Happy and hyper; although it’s been a long time since I allowed myself to get drunk. The after-effects are simply too brutal to handle anymore.

Who would you have play you in a film?

Angelina Jolie.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Being two-faced.

What music would you have played at your funeral?

Mozart’s Requiem. And not because it was written for such an occasion, but because it is an amazing piece of music that I have performed many, many times over the past 26 years.

What is your most treasured material possession?

My home.

What is your earliest memory?

Climbing up a stool to get to my parents’ old Hi-Fi system and play an LP of the opera Tosca.

When did you last cry, and why?

A couple of days ago. I was tidying up my study and came across a journal I had started to write whilst my father was in a medically-induced coma to give to him after he’d wake up. He never did.

Who would you most like to meet?

Colin Firth. Thanks to him, I started to enjoy studying Pride and Prejudice for my English Literature O Level.

What’s your favourite food?

Thai.

Who’s your favourite person on social media right now?

I don’t have one, but I do follow several aesthetic nurses and doctors who’s work I admire.

If you could travel in time, where would you go?

I’d travel 5,000 years ago to Egypt.

What book are you reading right now?

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a proper book. My usual reading material tends to consist of either some medically-related article or else a script or musical score I’d be studying.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Going back to age 30 and staying there!

What’s one thing you want to do before you die?

Travel to Asia.

What music are you listening to at the moment?

A piece from Star Wars, which I’m studying for a concert I’m doing in March.

In the shower or when you’re working out, what do you sing/listen to?

Anything cheesy with a catchy beat; the cheesier the better.