Nicole Walker

Nicole DiMera  (born Mendez, née Walker, formerly Roberts and Kiriakis) is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives, portrayed by Arianne Zucker from February 27, 1998 to February 8, 2006 and April 2, 2008 to present. She is the only daughter of Fay Walker, and Paul Mendez.

Zucker was nominated for Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the role in 2010.

Storylines
Nicole the only daughter of Paul Mendez and Fay Walker, first arrived in Salem in February 1998. Nicole suffered a traumatic puberty, being forced by her father to appear, while underage, in a pornographic film. She tries later to put her past behind her and begins a successful modeling career. Nicole is romanced by Eric Brady and the two quickly become engaged. She is simultaneously pursued by the wealthy Lucas Roberts, who decides that he needs to be married in order to gain custody of his biological son Will Roberts. Although Nicole was in love with Eric, she takes an offer from Kate Roberts to marry Lucas for $5 million as she was hungry for wealth and power.

After a cancer scare and a brief rekindling of her relationship with Eric, she divorces Lucas and schemes her way into the arms of Victor Kiriakis (much to the dismay of Kate). In July 2001, Nicole's father dies. Nicole and Victor marry, but the honeymoon period is brief. It wasn't long before Nicole plots Victor's death, and her subsequent inheritance of the Kiriakis fortune. She pays Larry Welch to assassinate Victor, but it ends up not happening. She then teams up with Jan Spears, and Victor's death is linked with the Salem Stalker killings.

Nicole then turns her pursuit to Victor's grandson, Brady Black. Thinking she had finally found her true love, she is ready to settle down. Nicole is unable to stop her manipulative and deceptive behavior and when she finds out that Brady's long-time love Chloe Lane was still alive, the web of deceit starts once again. When Brady eventually finds out what Nicole has been hiding from him, he ends their relationship. Nicole leaves town in 2006. After Nicole's departure it is mentioned on the show that she had met and wanted to marry "some soap actor," presumably a nod to the fact portrayer Zucker was married to her former Days of our Lives costar Kyle Lowder.

EJ DiMera
In April 2008, Nicole returned to Salem claiming to still be married to Victor. Nicole hired EJ Wells to help her divorce Victor. However, Nicole finds out that she is still married to her first husband, Trent Robbins. She thinks that their marriage had been annulled; as a consequence, her marriages to both Lucas and Victor were invalid. Nicole married Trent while in college. Trent was so abusive towards Nicole that she eventually packed her things and left him. However, she never files for divorce so technically, since she is still married to Trent.

Trent is found stabbed to death in September 2008. Nicole becomes a prime suspect of the murder. While working together, E.J. sometimes uses Nicole to make Sami jealous. After being dumped by Sami, E.J. and Nicole have sex in an elevator (during which time he calls out "Sami"). Soon after the elevator romp, Nicole discoveres that she is pregnant. Sadly, Nicole goes into preterm labor with their daughter, and miscarries. Unable to tell EJ because of the fear of abandonment, Nicole pretends to be pregnant

In January 2009, Sami Brady gives birth to her and EJ's second child together, a baby girl. Nicole, who is angry at Sami because she was pregnant with EJ's saby and Nicole was not, switches EJ and Sami's baby with the baby she was going to adopt from a teenage girl named Mia. Mia returnes to Salem from Japan and heads to the DiMera mansion. She asks to see Nicole, but she speaks to Tony instead. Mia accidentally reveales that Sydney is "her daughter." Tony then confronts Nicole about it, but he is killed before he could tell EJ that Sydney is not his daughter. EJ and Nicole marry on April 21, 2009. Her secret is safe until EJ becomes suspicious of her and sends someone to follow her. After he hears the recording of Nicole and Brady's talk where she admits she lost their baby, he kicks Nicole and Sydney out of the mansion. She tells Mia that EJ knows Sydney is not his daughter, but Chad overhears and wants custody of Sydney. Eventually, the truth comes out that Nicole switched the babies, and Sydney is reunited with Sami and EJ. Nicole then kidnaps Sydney, loses her, and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. She finally remembers that Anna DiMera is the one who took Sydney from her, and blackmails her into helping Nicole get released from prison.