A wiry, WASPy actor with boyish clean-cut good looks, Taylor Nichols gained prominence in two features directed by Whit Stillman after honing his craft in theatrical productions. Raised in East Lansing, MI, the actor studied business at the University of Michigan before moving to NYC to embark on his career. Nichols acted in minor Off-Off-Broadway productions, while dancing in the chorus in stock company productions and the national tour of "Sugar Babies". At a cattle call audition, Nichols impressed Stillman enough to land the role of Charlie, the bespectacled neurotic, in "Metropolitan" (1990). He brought humor and humanity to the role of a stuttering, pontificating preppie who often has his beliefs challenged and destroyed. Hollywood soon beckoned and Nichols moved to L.A. to co-star with James Garner in the short-lived NBC political sitcom "Man of the People" (1991).
Nichols soon found himself in demand, making several appearances on "Murder, She Wrote" and portraying General Custer on an episode of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". Stillman reteamed him with "Metropolitan" co-star Chris Eigeman in "Barcelona" (1994), with Nichols cast as a priggish, too serious sales representative of an American company in Spain. He went on to a small role in Rob Reiner's "The American President" and was cast as one of the hostages in a sleazy strip club in the independent film "Headless Body in Topless Bar" (both 1995). Nichols served as an associate producer and co-star of "The Next Step/Closing Notice" (1996), a drama about an aging dancer. After a turn as Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach in the HBO biopic "Norma Jean & Marilyn" (1996), he returned to the stage in the acclaimed 1996 L.A. production of "Lonely Planet", opposite Philip Anglim, and the Off-Broadway production "Plunge" (1997). In 1998, Nichols reteamed with Whit Stillman for "The Last Days of Disco".