Nina "Nini" Salazar-Roberts was one of the main characters in the first two seasons in the Disney+ Original Series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She is the daughter of Marvin and was raised by her two moms Carol and Dana Salazar-Roberts. She is the granddaughter of Malou. She is Kourtney Greene's best friend. Nini was a junior at East High School in Season 1 and Season 2. In Season 1, she was cast as Gabriella Montez in East High School's fall production of High School Musical. In Season 2, she was originally going to play The Enchanted Rose in East High School's spring production of Beauty and the Beast, but ended up playing a Fork.
Background[]
Nini is formerly relegated to the chorus of her school's musicals, Nini just got back from summer camp, where she found her voice – and confidence — playing the lead in THE MUSIC MAN. Unfortunately, Nini also found a new boyfriend at camp. Drama. Fiercely loyal to her two moms, she's stronger than she first appears: an iron butterfly. Never misses AMERICAN IDOL and THE VOICE (only after doing her homework, natch) and takes hour-long showers to sing Ariana Grande's entire catalogue. Voted "Most likely to have a HAMILTON lyric as her senior quote."[1]
Personality[]
Nini is a typical main character, she acts sweet and kind but will often ignore how her flaws affect the people around her. In the beginning of the first season, she is supposed to be insecure but often won't seem more insecure than most teenagers. Despite acting perfect shown is shown to be a bad friend because despite her friends doing many life changing favors for her she hasn't done any favors for her friends and has never thanked them for what they have done for her. Though, this can be explained by her love language being words of affirmation and her viewing her doing things for other people as her thinking they need to be saved. Nini is very independent and shown to be supportive of others.
Physical appearance[]
Nini is a Filipina-American girl.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Nina Salazar-Roberts was born sometime between 2002-2003. Nini has two moms Carol and Dana Salazar-Roberts. In Kindergarten, Nini met Ricky Bowen. In the fall of 2017 Nini started her freshmen year at East High School. Nini joins the Drama Club and meets E.J. Caswell. The summer before her sophomore year of high school Nini starts dating Ricky Bowen. The summer before her junior year of high school Ricky tells Nini that they should take a "break" before she goes to summer camp. Then Nini goes to summer camp and auditions for the summer musical The Music Man. Nini gets casts as Marian the Librarian's understudy. Nini starts talking to E.J. Caswell at summer camp and she starts dating him to help her get over Ricky.
Season One[]
The Auditions[]
On the first day of junior year, Nini tells Kourtney all about her "showmance" filled summer with E.J. Caswell and her time at theater camp. She decides to tell her ex-boyfriend, Ricky Bowen about him until the right time which was instantly neglected as soon as Ricky decided to say "hey" as soon as he saw her in the halls. It turns out, Ricky just wanted a "pause," but mistranslated into a break up. This all started six weeks before the first day of junior year, when Ricky and Nini were at the latter's house on their one year anniversary. Nini gives him a gift of a song titled "I Think I Kinda You Know" in a video format of her singing and playing ukulele publicly on Instagram. After the video stops playing, she says, "I do, Ricky. I love you." Ricky followed the statement with an "Oh," leaving Nini heartbroken. Back to reality, Nini sees this in a positive light. She takes it as a fresh start, and everyone is on the same page.
Being the theater nerd Nini is, she was obviously excited when Miss Jenn announced that this years show was going to be High School Musical: The Musical. She wants to audition for Gabriella Montez.
At lunch, Kourtney is telling her and E.J. what she's done over summer break, but immediately talk about auditions for the musical right after she finishes. E.J. suggests that they go in costume to the auditions. Nini quickly turns that idea down, not wanting to jinx anything about her getting the role she is hoping for. E.J. then comforts her by saying that they are a package, meaning that if one of them doesn't get a role or is cut from the show, the other is not going to participate as well. E.J. also shares some more comforting remarks by saying that they have a better chance than last year since all the talented seniors are out of their way. After their conversation, they share a kiss. After E.J. gets whisked away by some fellow jocks, Nini asks for Kourtney's opinion on him. Kourtney explains how she doesn't want another boy to hurt her after Ricky crushed her. Kourtney claims that Nini didn't come out of her bedroom for forty-eight hours after the break up. Nini then tells her that it's different now, and that she is her own person. E.J. then pulls her into a conversation with another athlete.
After school, she has a talk with her grandmother, Malou, about her first day back as well as a dream of being alone on this big, Broadway stage where she opens her mouth, and nothing comes out. She's been having since she was little. Malou explains that this dream means that there is something about being heard feels off-limits to Nini. Nini's mothers, Carol Salazar-Roberts and Dana Salazar-Roberts arrive with twelve glazed donuts after their car broke down in front of the donut shop.
The next day, Nini, E.J. and Kourtney are at auditions. E.J. boasts about not having any competition which Nini hesitantly agrees. Nini ends up getting casted as Gabriella Montez in the fall musical High School Musical.
The Read-Through[]
Nini gets upset with Ricky for only auditioning because of her but gets more impressed with him when she sees how hard he is trying in the musical.
The Wonderstudies[]
Nini gets insecure because Gina choreographed a dance for Gabriella that she can't do after losing her phone. She assumes Gina stole it and steals her shoes and water bottle in retaliation.
Blocking[]
After finding out E.J. stole her phone she confronts him and later blocks his number without properly breaking up with him. She later tries to comfort Ricky after he goes to her house because his parents are divorcing.
Homecoming[]
After trying to flush her homecoming dress down the toilet, Nini decides to skip homecoming to spend the night with Kourtney and Miss Jenn,
What Team[]
After finding out Miss Jenn may be getting fired, she leaves rehearsals and is stopped by E.J. so that he can tell her all of his mistakes. After, she hears Ricky singing in the Drama Club room but sees he is singing to Gina, so she leaves. She later arrives at Big Red's house to try to find a way to save Miss Jenn. She calls the Drama Club her family.
Thanksgiving[]
Nini goes over to Ashlyn's house for a Thanksgiving party with the drama club. She talks to Ashlyn about how she loves the song she wrote for the show and Ashlyn suggests that she write a song for herself and herself only. E.J. tells Nini that he confessed what he did to Emily Pratt and Nini talks to Emily and learns about the Youth Actors Conservatory. She later talks to Ricky about speaking to his mother sine it is Thanksgiving. At the end of the episode, she writes a song about herself wanting more for her dreams.
The Tech Rehearsal[]
At the Tech Rehearsal, Nini and Ricky read over lines and continue to grow closer. They almost kiss.
Opening Night[]
On opening night, Nini makes a gift for Ricky, but doesn't give it to him. They sing Just for a Moment as they think about each other. Nini finds out that Kourtney called the Youth Actors Conservatory for her and there is a scout in the audience, so she gets nervous.
Act Two[]
Nini gets thrown off by the fact that E.J. is now in Ricky's role. While singing Breaking Free, E.J. decides to step aside so that Nini can sing with Ricky. After the curtain call, Ricky confesses his love for her and she confesses her love for him and they kiss. She gives him a dog tag necklace and he gives her a guitar pick necklace. At the end of the episode, the head of the Youth Actors Conservatory offers Nini a spot at their school for next semester.
Season Two[]
New Year's Eve[]
Nini doesn't know how to tell Ricky that she is leaving for the YAC on New Year's Day. She tries to tell him multiple times on Christmas Day and before the New Year's Eve party, but Ricky kept singing Bet On It to her. When Miss Jenn officially announces that the Musical will be Beauty and the Beast for this semester, everyone believes that Nini will be Belle, but Nini announces that she is moving to Denver shocking everyone.
Typecasting[]
Ricky calls Nini saying that he doesn't think he will be doing the show this semester, but Nini convinces him that it will be good for him to be around his friends. Nini also supports Kourtney when she calls about being nervous for auditions. While at YAC, rooming with Emily Pratt they go over lines for a class assignment. Emily gets annoyed that they do this scene at the every start of every semester, so Nini has an idea to change things up. Nini gets in trouble by her professor and he makes her go on vocal rest. At the end of the episode, she is excited to find out all of her friends got their roles, but she begins to feel alone.
Valentine's Day[]
For Valentine's Day, Nini secretly goes to Salt Lake to surprise Ricky with a song that she wrote for him, only to find out that he moved to a new house without telling her. The next day, they try to meet up to spend the day together, but one of Nini's mom's broke their ankle so she has to stay at the hospital. Nini finds out that Ricky wrote a song for her as well. They didn't get a chance to meet up with each other, so they decide to sing their songs for each other over the phone.
The Storm[]
Nini visits East High before having to return back to Denver. After talking to E.J. about not getting into Duke, she tells him that dream schools are not as great as they seem. Miss Jenn decides to take Nini to the bus station, but they get trapped in a snow storm. They begin to talk about how tough YAC is and how she is not really enjoying it there. She gets to the train station and says goodbye to Ricky. She then sings Granted and decides to stay in Salt Lake City with her friends. She tells Miss Jenn that YAC doesn't have a teacher like her.
The Quinceañero[]
Ricky wants to get Nini into the musical, but Nini says she is just okay with working on her own solo music. At the end of the episode, Miss Jenn comes up with the idea for Nini to play The Rose to combat North High's production.
Yes, And...[]
Nini is tasked to write a duet for the Beast and the Rose for the musical and Ricky gets annoyed that they won't be spending time with each other over the weekend and constantly texts her while she is working on the song. While working on the song at Salt Lake Slices, she encourages Kourtney to ask out Howie and gets her song inspiration from her. Instead of making it a duet, she writes a solo song for The Rose, The Rose Song. She doesn't want Ricky to know about the song, but Carlos records it and posts it to the East High Drama Club Instagram and it goes viral.
The Field Trip[]
Nini appears on the East High Morning News to discuss how important The Rose Song is to her. They end up having to sneak into North High to see if they stole their Beast mask and end up getting into a dance off. Nini doesn't think it's a good idea, and Ricky tells her he doesn't want her to feel like she is being kept under glass, so she leaves. The drama club finds out that if they sing The Rose Song in the show, they will be disqualified from the Menkies, so they end up dropping the song. At the end of the episode, Nini makes a new instagram account to share her music and calls herself Nina.
Most Likely To[]
Nini talks to Ricky about how the music account and the name change is not about him. She shows him her new account, but he secretly deletes a comment from her page. At Slices, Nini and Ricky get into a huge fight and Ricky storms out. That night Ricky meets up with Nini in her treehouse and Nini tells Ricky the reason why she decided to come back and how her music has made her feel. Ricky reveals that he deleted a comment and he apologizes. They mutually decide to break up and Ricky gives Nini back the dog tag necklace that she gave to him at the end of Season 1.
Spring Break[]
Over Spring Break, Nini and Ashlyn come up with a song together for the drama club to sing to show North High that they're still in the competition.
The Transformation[]
Nini comes up with a girls vs boys idea to see who will come up with the best way to show the beast's transformation. While at Ashlyn's house with the girls, Nini finds out about the chocolates that Gina thought Ricky gave her on Valentine's Day and she asked why didn't she ever hear about this. At the school, she says that today's theme is "secrets".
Showtime[]
On opening night, Nini gives everyone an opening night card and helps motivate all of her friends in the show by giving them advise and supporting them. She plays a fork during the Be Our Guest number.
Second Chances[]
Nini gives Ricky an opening night card and he gives her one and they share a moment, Just For a Moment, before leaving. Nini sees Gina crying and she tries to comfort her. She reveals that the only reason that she was upset about the chocolates was not about Ricky, but was about the fact that she thought her and Gina were close enough to share things with each other. Gina tells her that she does and she learned that she could trust her when Nini stole her stuff and gave it back to her. Gina gives her Jamie Porter's phone number so she can start making music professionally
Season Three[]
Happy Campers[]
While Working on songwriting with Gina's brother, Jamie, Nini decides to not go to Camp Shallow Lake with the rest of the crew and instead decides to go on a family trip to California with her moms to visit where she was born. She visits Miss Jenn at her house to drop her off some summer items for her vacation cruise with Mike Bowen. While there she talks to Miss Jenn about how she is supposed to be writing a song a day, but she is having trouble doing so. She discusses with Miss Jenn if she is making the right decisions. At the end of the episode, she leaves Salt Lake City to go to California.
Into the Unknown[]
While in California, Nini is still having trouble writing a song as is reintroduced to her birth donor, Marvin, with her mothers. She learns more about her moms and learns about a band they used to be in back in the day. They sang a song called You Never Know, which gives Nini an idea for a song of her own. At the end of the episode, Marvin reveals that he thought meeting Nini would've thrown her off, and Nini says, "I'm not thrown." A line that she said in the very first episode before auditioning for Gabriella at East High. She then begins to sing You Never Know while reminiscing about her journey and her friends.
Let It Go[]
Nini goes to Camp Shallow Lake to surprise her best friends with opening night cards as always, and reminisce about going to camp there. Before the show, she sees Miss Jenn and talks about how she has been enjoying California and that her moms are also enjoying it. She reveals that she has to decide if she wants to go back to Salt Lake City for senior year, or move to California. Miss Jenn tells her that she isn't letting anyone down with either decision she chooses. She cheers on Kourtney Greene as she performs "Let It Go". She goes to The Honeycomb to set up surprises for her friends and she runs into Kourtney and says her goodbyes. After watching Ricky Bowen perform Kristoff Lullaby, she leaves Miss Jenn a letter revealing that she has decided to move to California, but she will always be a Wildcat. At the end of the summer, Ricky thinks Nini did not give him an opening night card, but Jet reveals that she did. Inside of his opening night card was the lottery ticket that he needed to finish his list of things that he wanted to complete by the time he was 18.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Carol Salazar-Roberts (mother)
Dana Salazar-Roberts (mother)
Malou (grandmother)
Friends[]
Ricky Bowen (childhood friend/ex-boyfriend)
Kourtney Greene (best friend)
Big Red (friend)
Emily Pratt (former roommate/friend)
E.J. Caswell (ex-boyfriend/friend)
Ashlyn Caswell (friend)
Natalie Bagley (friend)
Seb Matthew-Smith (friend)
Carlos Rodriguez (friend)
Gina Porter (friend)
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- The Auditions
- The Read-Through
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- She is Ricky Bowen's first crush.
References[]
External links[]
- Nini Salazar-Roberts | High School Musical Wiki | Fandom
- Nini Salazar-Roberts | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Wiki | Fandom
- Nini Salazar-Roberts | HSMTMTS Wiki | Fandom[2]
