Nicola Peltz: 5 Things To Know About The ‘Transformers’ Star

Nicola Peltz will soon be sharing the screen with Mark Wahlberg and everyone’s favorite shape-shifting robots in the highly anticipated “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”

The 19-year-old beauty, who plays Mark’s onscreen teenage daughter Tessa in the latest action-packed “Transformers” installment, has some big shoes to fill, as the new leading lady of the franchise, taking over for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and original “Transformers” star Megan Fox.

So as Nicola – who many fans know as Katara from 2010’s “The Last Airbender,” as well as her hauntingly brilliant role as Bradley in A&E’s “Bates Motel” — gets set to make waves for her bound-to-be blockbuster role, here are 5 things to know about the rising star:

SHE’S NOT YOUR AVERAGE GIRLY GIRL

Nicola might be winning tween hearts everywhere with her “Transformers” role, but this blossoming big screen beauty – who has seven siblings – didn’t always have Hollywood starlet aspirations. “I grew up playing ice hockey,” she at the film’s press junket in Hong Kong this week. “I have six brothers, so I definitely grew up being a tomboy and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.”

SHE’S NOT DOING THIS FOR THE MONEY

While her “Transformers” pay day will surely take care of the rent, Nicola is all good in the finance department. Her mom, Claudia, is a former model and her father, Nelson, is a billionaire businessman. Among the corporate conquests in Nelson’s portfolio: ownership of Snapple and a non-executive chairman of the board spot with the company that owns the Wendy’s fast food chain.

PHOTOS: 10 Hot Shots Of The Lovely Nicola Peltz

SHE KNOWS MILEY!

Well, sort of. She’s made her mark in TV and movies, but Nicola also boasts at least one music video on her resume. At age 13, she was featured in the music video for Miley Cyrus’ hit single “7 Things” (she first appears around the :20 mark). Nicola described the experience in a 2010 interview, saying “I sang along and danced. It’s a fun girls’ video.”

SHE ISN’T MEGAN FOX 2.0…

…And she’s not trying to be. While Megan – along with eventual successor Rosie Huntington-Whitely – were bona fide box office babes in their turns in the Michael Bay-directed franchise, Nicola admits her role is a bit different. “I play a daughter, so this one is different. She is younger than the other ‘Transformers’ girls. Rosie was about 24, and I play 16 or 17. My character is still in high school. She’s not allowed to have a boyfriend. It’s a father-daughter story,” she told Interview magazine.

SHE’S GOT 2 DADS…

… And they know each other. As it turns out, her real-life dad also knows her onscreen dad. “They have a mutual friend,” Nicola told Access Hollywood, of her father Nelson’s relationship with Mark Wahlberg. “I’ve known Mark for a long time and I’ve always wanted to do a film with him. I look up to him.”

— Eric Anderson

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