Nikolaeff was born in Melbourne, and is of Russian and Ukrainian descent.[2] He began acting at the age of 12 and enrolled into the Victorian Youth Theatre. He attended school at Caulfield Grammar School and at 16, Nikolaeff landed a lead role in Crash Zone, which led to a number of roles in other children's television series.[3][4][5][6][7] He took an arts degree at Monash University in Caulfield.
^Shearer, Geoff (20 May 2009), "Nik's new role is plain sailing", Courier Mail