'Riverdale' Actress Marisol Nichols' Secret Job As An Undercover Sex Trafficking Agent Is Being Turned Into A TV Show
In a twist even wilder than (some of) the twists on Riverdale, one of the stars of the CW show, Marisol Nichols, has revealed herself to be an undercover agent in the fight against sex trafficking. And her story is being turned into a TV show.
In a profile for Marie Claire, Nichols revealed that for the past six years, she has been working undercover with agents from the FBI, Operation Underground Railroad, and local law enforcement to hunt child predators. Nichols used her acting skills to frequently pose as "bait" for both domestic and international sting operations — either as a parent pimping out a child or a child, using coded language on hook-up acts. She's participated in numerous sex stings around the world over the last few years, all on her own dime as a volunteer.
The article, titled "The Hollywood Vigilante" is an amazing chronicle of Nichols' secret side job, which she began in earnest in 2012, when acting jobs began to dry up for the actress, who had mostly starred in guest roles in procedurals like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order: SVU. But it was in doing research for those roles that got her in contact with homicide detectives and sex trafficking agents, inspiring Nichols to start a nonprofit, Foundation for a Slavery Free World, in 2014. Nichols suffered a sexual assault at a young age as well, and has regularly spoken publicly about the subject of sex trafficking.
The revelation of Nichols' side gig, which she juggled in addition to starring in Riverdale as series regular Hermione Lodge, would be impressive enough, but now her story is being turned into a television series by Sony Pictures Television, which has optioned the rights to Nichols' story, Deadline reports. Nichols, whose career seems to be taking off with a role in Lionsgate's Saw reboot Spiral next year, is set to executive produce and star in the series, which is in the early stages of development.
The only downside to this pretty amazing story is the fact that Nichols is a Scientologist, an association which the actress vehemently defends in the Marie Claire story, despite the allegations of human trafficking, child abuse, and forced labor surrounding the religious organization. Nichols denies these allegations as "completely fabricated," but says that people bring up these allegations to her frequently.
Still, Nichols' story is so wildly stranger-than-fiction that it's no surprise that Hollywood immediately jumped to adapt it into a TV series.