Niki J Borger is quickly becoming a rising superstar as an award-winning actress, producer, and screenwriter. She has been nominated and has won several awards for her short “Because I Could”, which she directed, wrote and produced, and also acted in. She also wrote and starred in the award winning short “A Portrayal of a Subtle Suicide” and also hosts a weekly show, focusing on personal development called “Unlimit Yoursef.”
As the co-founder of FireWolf Entertainment based on Oklahoma and Burbank, California she specializes in telling captivating stories in the fantasy and action genre similar to Game of Thrones and the MCU. The tales specific to the company may appear dark along the way however they lead to uplifting and inspirational endings. The characters they create are more authentic than many in that genre, and go deeper into the psychology, mindsets and beliefs that make them human.
With a dazzling resume unfolding before the eyes of the World Niki is about to explode into the industry like that of a raging tsunami. In her own words “ as a cosmopolitan, I believe that we live in one world, and that every living being has a unique purpose within it. Through my work and how I live I want to inspire others. I want to show that so much more is possible than some might think, for everybody.”….Niki J Borger
When you were growing up in Germany what inspired you to become part of the entertainment industry?
So for one, my father always had a love for the United States and we actually traveled here once or twice a year. So I came over here lots. The Highlight was obviously Disneyland. The pictures of me at different ages in front of the Minnie house or something. Just me in front of Minnie’s house at Age 2 and then Age 5 then age 7. So there was always this fascination for the US and a certain love for its people. American’s are very welcoming. I love that about this country! With Hollywood in particular I always wanted to be an actress as a kid. I loved everything that came with it. The stories, that you could be whatever you want. The costumes. Meeting people going places all of that. And then later on it also became about the impact. The realization of how much impact Hollywood actually has around the world. Because the stories we see as kids shape our perception of who we can be as an adult. That just clicked into place at some point. At the same time I was a little bit like, there’s still room to do this a little bit better.
So you are not only an actress, you do screenplays and Productions.
I did. I started as a dancer. I always did my own Productions in dance. With the screenwriting what happened is that I had to apply for my first talent Visa in 2020. When the pandemic was going on. I had done a ton of short films in my first year but nobody submitted to festivals. So I had to kind of do my own shorts first. Like start doing my own stuff. To get them submitted. And I did it and it actually turned out amazing. Even though I had next to no clue as to what I was doing. Intuitively I wrote three or four short films scripts. I made two of them. Both of them got into the festivals to run internationally. Despite the pandemic. The third one I submitted as a script to a handful of festivals and screenwriting competitions. I actually got two second places out of them. During the pandemic there was nothing else to do so I already figured that it’s hard to break into the industry if you’re not born here. Like not even born in Los Angeles but I’m not even born in the country. I don’t have connections from my hometown. Or anything that I could use. I don’t even have an idol, nobody has done this before from Germany. Like if you think of famous German actresses, there’s very few. There is Diane Kruger, she was already big in Modeling when she was brought over here. So we figured there has to be a way to break into it and we had a lot of time so we started developing our own projects.
And you speak a whole bunch of different languages, do you think that helps you?
I certainly think it helps me and understanding characters and people a lot better. Because I lived in a bunch of different places and when you speak the language really well you understand the ideas that’ll behind the words. Stuff that can’t just easily be translated. You understand how people tick in different parts of the world. And it’s so interesting to learn about that and then allow that to be expressed in your character. How are they behave and what drives them and what they really want to do.
If you could pick your dream acting role what would it be?
This is a hard one, cause there are so many things I would love to do! As a teenager, I loved Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, that would certainly be fun! Black Widow was really fun, too – I’m sure Scarlett Johannson and Florence Pugh had a great time playing their parts. But I could also see myself do period pieces like Phoebe Dynevor in Bridgerton, or Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean. I know those roles don’t really have a lot in common. I don’t want to be picky, I just want to experience as many characters, situations, and facets of life as I can.
If you could be in a movie, in a film with anybody on this planet who would you choose?
Oh my God who wouldn’t I choose. Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Samuel L Jackson, Angela Bassett, I could go on and on. Honestly, I would love to just be an extra around these people for a certain time. Like, just be blurred spot in the background, but in a position that I could watch them work and learn from what they’re doing. That would be awesome!
Let me put it to you this way, if you could pick two actors or an actor and an actress to be your parents who would you pick and why?
Two actors who could be my parents would be Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. The film “Our Souls at Night” was amazing. That’s kind of in between parent and grandparent but they had amazing careers and I think they’ve done incredible stuff. They are among the top actors out there. Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman both of those I watch so much. I’ve seen so much of their work. In acting school I had to do a reenactment of Cate Blanchett scenes. I was like oh my God I’m not sure if I could live up to this pressure.
Thus far how much training have you had and how much acting experience have you had?
Well, I started acting a long time ago. My first press article from me being in a production was from 20 years ago. Crazy right. That was the first of my professional productions. Also, when I started in 2002, I acted in English. It was kind of funny, acting in English and not in German. At that time I had only studied English for about 3 years. Full-time training I did four years in total, three in Germany and one over here.
I did semi-professional plays throughout School. Then I took a break because I was studying at an Ivy League College and there was no time for that. I did musical theater and throughout that we were doing professional productions on the side. That was intense. When we had productions, it was class from 8:00 to 5:00 with a 30-minute break to get to the theater, start at the theater at 5:30, wrap at 10:30, get home at 11:00 and start meal prep for the next day. That was tough. After school I did this crazy awesome project with Russia and the Ukraine. At the time I had no idea how important it actually was, but we were kind of trying to prevent the war that is going on right now.
Tell me about it a little bit.
It was funded by the European Theater Festival, the Goethe Institute and a bunch of other public institutions. There were three directors. One from Germany, one from the National Theater in Ukraine and one from Mascot, which is the leftist pro people theater in Russia. It was based on real testimonial from children in war situations. They developed a 40-minute piece and then those pieces were shown together as a set in all three locations. The testimonials were from children in the second world war in Germany, but then also from the people that were children in Ukraine when Russia took the Kremlin and attacked our eastern part of Ukraine. We played in all three places and it was just crazy because German people didn’t really care. In Ukraine we played the National Theater with the President in the other room and people were so grateful for what we were doing. They were coming to us with tears in their eyes and thanking us. And then we performed in Russia in this leftist theater that’s raided by the police every 6 months, which is in the backyard basement and doesn’t even have a sign outside. Fortunately, the directors were from Russia. Sadly, they passed away within half a year of the production. The New York Times did a two-page obituary about them.
Where do you want to be in 5 years, where do you hope to be?
I hope to be working regularly. I hope to be married with kids. Since I’m from Germany, I would love to be a stable resident here. I love the US. I love the American people. I think I do way better over here than I do in Germany. Working steadily with our own productions would be awesome.
Is there anything you would like me to put in this interview that we haven’t discussed?
I think this is a good start. I want people to be inspired. I want them to go to the movies and walk out and feel energized and excited. I want them to love what they saw and maybe have ideas of their own. I want children, especially girls, to grow up believing they could be whoever they want.
Follow Niki J. Borger on the web:
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/NikiJBorger
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069070134064
Instagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/nikijborger/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO8kBxwCdcLCjttdZi3X12A
Webpage: https://nikijborger.com/
FireWolf Entertainment: https://firewolfent.com/
Photo Credits: Niki J. Borger