Nikki Goulet:
People May Talk, But I'm Going
to Live My Life My Own Way
TV Soap Opera Beat Magazine, September 1979
by Seli Grooves
Article Provided By WandaShe has those big, beautiful blue eyes that immediately cause you to stop, look and lose yourself completely in admiration of her beauty.
She also speaks in a way that causes you to stop, listen and perceive that this lovely young woman not only looks bright but IS bright.
She’s Nicolette Goulet - Nikki Goulet as most of her friends and admirers call her - and she’s one of the brightest stars to come onto the daytime scene in a long time.
Nikki plays Mary Ryan Fenelli on ABC’s Ryan's Hope. She’s inherited a role created by another strong actress, but she’s not one whit fazed by the idea of that she had to step into a pre-set ‘imagery.’
“I’m an actress,” Nikki said. “And while I think Kate Mulgrew did a marvelous job with Mary, the fact remains that Mary is a character who is so well written and so beautifully created, that it’s a joy to play her. And I hope that what I have been able to bring to Mary has made her at least as interesting as she as and, perhaps, a little more so because of what my particular interpretation is.”
Needless to say, Ms. Goulet has nothing to worry about in the way she portrays Mary Ryan Fenelli. She has, indeed brought something special to the role, something that only Nicolette Goulet could have contributed.
But then, Ms. Goulet is a very special young woman. She’s an actress, singer and dancer. She traveled widely between New York and Hollywood and between Canada and Europe. She lives with her mother in New York, (her dad and mom were divorced many years ago.)
She’s also worked with her father. And if you haven’t guessed by now who he is - using such obvious hints to his identity as that name, Goulet, and those eyes of hers, which are just like his - we’ll tell you - Nikki Goulet is the daughter of actor/singer/personality nonpareil, Robert Goulet.
But while she admires he dad and is close to her siblings born to Goulet’s second wife, actress/singer/dancer Carol Lawrence, Nikki wants to make it absolutely clear to one and all that she became an actress ‘because it was what I wanted to do and not because, as Robert Goulet’s daughter it might have been easier to me to do this than something else.’
All of her life, Nikki has been fascinated with the theater. She does, of course, credit genes with possibly having some influence on her choice of a career. But it’s not just daddy who can be given credit for this. She says, with a warm, loving look to her mother, ‘mom has been a dancer and is very much involved in the theater...she’s helped me by encouraging me to study and to go to auditions and to face up to disappointments when they come. She never led me to believe that my father’s name should magically open doors for me. Instead, mom made me develop my own personality and my own talents. And for this I’m grateful.”
Nikki admits that being the daughter of a famous man can open doors. “But the doors will not open a second time if you haven’t proved yourself when you walked through the first time around.”
She also says that being the daughter of a man like Robert Goulet could lead to other problems - for example. “So many people expect you to live up to an image they have of you. But no matter what people might say, I’m going to lead my own life my own way because it’s the only honest way to live.”
“I’ll always be - and I’m proud and happy to be - Robert Goulet’s daughter. But I’m also my own person and I hope that people will accept what I do for my own accomplishments. My dad and my mom have both been the best friends I could have, as well as the best teachers. But they prepared me to be myself and that’s what I’m going to be. And that, she smiled “is what will make them happiest. I know it.”
Today, millions of people watch Nikki in Ryan's Hope. Many may not be aware of the fact that they’re watching more than an actress create a “reality’ out of a role. They’re also watching a young woman grow towards her potential.
"I know a lot of people have said a lot of nice things about me,” Nikki Goulet offered. “And I’m grateful for that but all of this makes me want to accomplish more. I guess,” she smiled, “I’m really a trouper. The sound of applause, whether it comes in the form of a review, or a letter or whatever, just makes me want to work harder.”
Spoken of course, like a true child of showbusiness!