Niki Chow Lai-Kei (Chinese: 周勵淇) was born and raised in Hong Kong. She is fluent in Mandarin, however, netizens have pointed that her Cantonese pronunciation is less than perfect. This is because she grew up speaking Shanghainese in her family. She is the younger sister of the Hong Kong model Kathy Chow. Niki's school life ended when she was spotted by an agent who offered her a modeling opportunity. This was the beginning of her life as an artist. She was just about 17 years old at that time.