Rachel Nichols is an American actress and model. Nichols began modeling while attending Columbia University in New York City in the late 1990s, and transitioned into acting by the early 2000s; she had a part in the romantic drama Autumn in New York (2000) and a one-episode role in the fourth season of Sex and the City (2002). Her first major role was in the comedy Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), and she went on to achieve wider recognition playing Rachel Gibson in the final season of the action television series Alias (2005–2006) and for her role in the horror film The Amityville Horror (2005).

Autumn in New York is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen, written by Allison Burnett, and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, and Sherry Stringfield. The film follows a successful middle-aged restaurateur and womanizer who falls in love with a terminally ill young woman. US distributor MGM took over the film from Chen and significantly re-edited the film, which also involved deleting a Ryder nude scene. The film received generally negative reviews and grossed $90 million worldwide against a $65 million budget.