Actor Austin Nichols is getting a taste of the tabloids. Dating TV starlet Sophia Bush and being pals with Jake Gyllenhaal has helped. Though he won't discuss Bush, Nichols says, "I had a crazy breakup with my longtime girlfriend and fiancée. I've been homeless since I broke up with her. I've been staying with friends in Santa Monica." Nichols got his first big break as Rachel Griffith's boy toy on Six Feet Under. Soon after, Nichols met Gyllenhaal while shooting the doomsday epic The Day After Tomorrow. "I've learned a ton from Jake. He's a really sharp guy. He told me everything about acting, the business, girls, life."
Nichols's upcoming projects show off his darker side. In The House
of Usher, he plays a "twisted, terminally ill, fucked-up guy." In Lenexa, 1
Mile, he's a hard-partying, troubled kid with a violent temper. And in the HBO
series Deadwood, Nichols is mesmerizing as Wyatt Earp's murderous brother
Morgan. Such crazy characters are the opposite of Nichols, who grew up in
Austin, Texas, and wanted to be a professional water-skier (his mother is a
10-time national champion). After an accident in Florida messed up his shoulder,
Nichols started taking acting classes seriously, eventually moving to Los
Angeles. But there is at least a bit of the wild man in Nichols. Take his name:
Nichols's father says that he named his only son after Austin Nichols, the
brewmaster of Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. "My full name,
Austin Nichols, is on the label," Nichols reports with a loud laugh. "My dad
claims a wild turkey was released on the White House lawn the night I was born."
We'll drink to that.
Peter Davis
Austin wears a blazer by HERO. Fragrance: Splash by Marc Jacobs.
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