Vlora Nikçi is an actress from Kosovo. She was born in the city of Peja and moved to Prishtina as a child. In 1999, she came to America with her family as a refugee from the Kosovo war. She spent her adolescence in Brooklyn, NY, where she completed High School.

After the end of the war, her father returned to their homeland to help establish the institutions of the new Republic of Kosovo. Vlora, together with her mother and her younger brother, Hekuran, returned to a country scarred by conflict. Her older brother Valon continued his studies in America.

Vlora inherited her passion for the arts from her mother. She studied at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in the University of Prishtina. Already she was working on stage and screen. Following her studies, she participated in many plays, taking leading roles for the National Theatre of Kosovo and for the capital’s Dodona Theatre. From the very beginning of her studies and then her professional life, she was attracting international ‘Best Actress’ awards.

For twenty years she has been active not only on the stage but on film and TV; she has featured prominently in diverse festivals. In 2018 she completed the Atlantic Theater Company of New York’s summer school; there she worked with and learned new performance techniques from famous names including F. Murray Abraham.

In recent years, Vlora has also devoted herself to cultural heritage. She was the first woman to publish a collection of ‘Erotic Folk Verses’ in her country, breaking taboos all over the Albanian-speaking world. The book was a bestseller in 2021-2022. Several of the verses from this anthology have been published by VSW Art House of Brooklyn, NY. Her second book, Blessings and Curses, also focuses on cultural heritage.

Vlora has also been continuously engaged with the cause of 20,000 ethnic Albanian women who were raped during the Kosovo conflict in 1998-1999. She has highlighted this cause through innumerable written pieces, and through performances for the National Theatre of Kosovo directly addressing the issue: she borrowed clothing from these women – specifically, the clothes they had been wearing when they were raped – and used these for public performance. Accordingly, Vlora has become a voice for these woman, and supported them in confronting this enduring trauma. She was also a member of the committee to select a motif for the cause of women violated during the war. She continues to work for the rights of women and girls in Kosovo.

Today Vlora lives in New York, together with her actor husband Armend Baloku and their son Ene.