Cox was born June 2, 1978 in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Meredith and Terry Cox, who is a personal manager.[1] She has one younger brother, Matthew Cox, who is also an actor. She began her career at the age of four when she appeared as a dancer in several ballet productions and TV specials. She began acting at the age of ten, making appearances in several movies and guest starring on shows such as Baywatch, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Eerie, Indiana, and Blossom. She also starred in General Hospital from 1993 to 1995 and had a recurring role on the Saturday morning program California Dreams.
Her appearances on various TV shows would lead to her first prime-time starring role as Tiffany Malloy on the sitcom Unhappily Ever After, which ran on the WB 1995–1999. Brother Matthew guest-starred on a handful of UEA episodes, including one where he wore a "Ghostface" mask (a la Scream).
When Unhappily left the airwaves after taping 100 episodes, Cox went on to portray former prostitute Taylor Clayton on the sitcom The Norm Show and star as Nikki White in Nikki, a sitcom vehicle that would last for under two seasons (2000–2002). She starred as Mary Connell on the TV drama Las Vegas from 2003-2007. On May 20 and May 23, 2005, her Las Vegas character crossed over to NBC's cult-favorite soap opera Passions to coincide with the arrival of two new characters introduced on Las Vegas.
She is currently the spokesmodel for online gaming giant Sportsbook.com, and is working on Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, an upcoming video game, and Lonely Street, an upcoming comedy movie starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr (her husband), Ernie Hudson
and Lindsay Price.
After being romantically linked to Kevin Connolly, who played her brother on Unhappily Ever After, Cox was engaged in 1999 to Bobcat Goldthwait, a comedian more than 16 years her senior, who played the voice of Mr. Floppy, a stuffed bunny, on Unhappily Ever After.[2][3]
On December 29, 2006, she married comedian/actor Jay Mohr in Los Angeles.[4] In December 2008, Jay petitioned a Los Angeles court to allow him to legally add Nikki's last name to his, changing his name to Jay Ferguson Cox Mohr.[5]