Nicholas Alexander Chavez

Nicholas Alexander Chavez (born September 6, 1999) is an American actor. He played Spencer Cassadine on the ABC soap opera General Hospital from 2021 to 2024, for which he won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series. He portrayed Lyle Menendez in the crime drama series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and priest Charlie Mayhew in the horror series Grotesquerie, both co-created by Ryan Murphy in 2024.

Early life and education

Chavez was born in Houston, Texas. He has three younger half-siblings. He lived in Sugar Land, Texas, before his family relocated to Denver, Colorado. His parents had never married, but they split when he was five and they decided to split his time between his mother's home in Denver and his father's hometown of Arvada, Colorado. His mother is originally from Russia, and her original surname, Vansikleymova, was passed on to her son, who legally adopted him as Vansikleymov, officially changed to Ellis Island. Chávez comes from a large Russian family and grew up speaking Russian as his first language and learning English as a second. As a child, Chavez spent a lot of time outdoors, snowboarding, hiking and mountain biking. He described himself as a "precocious kid". At an early age, Chavez developed an interest in performing, including recreating the blessing of the Eucharist, which he saw at Sunday Mass. He was also a member of the Colorado Children's Chorale and performed at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Chavez attended Camp Rising Sun in 2014. His maternal grandparents and his maternal family in general were Russian immigrants, while his grandmother was a Volga German born in Russia. His father is an American of Spanish, English, and Mexican descent, from a family originally from New Mexico; Nicholas's great-grandfather was Mexican.

Chavez attended East High School, where he played football and joined the speech and debate team headed by his mentor, Matt Murphy. When Murphy took over the drama department a year later, he recruited Chavez, then a junior, to play Atticus Finch in the school's production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Chavez quit football to focus on the play. As a senior, Chavez began studying at Visionbox Studio Theater under Jennifer McCray Rincón. While he couldn't afford to pay her, Chavez assisted around the theatre while Rincón helped him prepare for college auditions. Chavez applied to several top American drama programs, including Rutgers University, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and the Juilliard School. Except for Juilliard, Chavez was accepted to all of the schools. Chavez attended the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. After two years, Chavez took a leave of absence from Rutgers and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time. However, he was forced to go back to Vero Beach, Florida, with his father when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. He's spoken about his roots; his Latin heritage from his father and grandfather. The internet quickly linked him to a real-life Latin story, highlighting his last name, but he himself debunked those rumors, mentioning that his family never spoke Spanish. So he decided to honor his family name and take classes. “I have a tutor who works with me, my brother, and my girlfriend. He comes to my house, and we spend about five hours a week taking classes,” he says candidly. “Also, our plan is to travel to South America this summer to immerse ourselves in the language for a few weeks. To be honest, I grew up feeling pretty disconnected from Latin culture, since my upbringing and influences at home were primarily Russian, thanks to my mother, and then at my father's house everyone spoke English, but I make an effort every day to reconnect because it's important to me.” He has said that his greatest inspiration is the Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and that portraying him in a film is one of his dream roles, along with bringing Batman Beyond to life in a live-action film. Chavez identifies as half Russian-American. Chavez worked a few "odd" jobs, including at a car dealership, while he submitted self-taped auditions.

Career

On July 1, 2021, Chavez made his television debut as Spencer Cassadine on General Hospital. Chavez signed a three-year deal. Only a few months into his General Hospital tenure, he mourned the loss of his longtime manager, Jenevieve Brewer. He exited the role in January 2024. In 2022, Chavez starred as Jason in the Tubi original film Crushed.

In 2023, Chavez was cast in the second season of Ryan Murphy's Netflix anthology series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024). He portrayed Lyle Menendez.

In August 2024, it was reported Chavez had also been cast in Murphy's Grotesquerie, a dramatic horror series for FX. In the midst of the premieres ten days apart, Chavez signed with Creative Artists Agency for representation. In November 2024, he was cast in the fourth installment of the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise. However, his scene was cut from the film.

In March 2025, it was announced that he had been cast in psychological thriller The Technique alongside Ben Platt, Emma Roberts, Laura Harrier, Kelsey Asbille, and Noomi Rapace.

In April 2025, he was cast to play Kilroy in the summer 2025 Williamstown Theatre Festival revival of the Tennessee Williams play Camino Real.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Theater

Awards and nominations

External links

• at IMDb