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Ni was born to Marnie and Brian Bell in Barnsley District and General Hospital on the morning of the 16th January 1978. He was christened Neil Alan Bell. Born in a South Yorkshire mining and market town like Barnsley, life was tough but very loving. Ni's dad died in 1983 and was raised by his mum Marnie. Ni remains fiercely loyal to his roots and is proud of where he started out.

Like most people Neil got a taste for performing on stage at a young age during a Christmas play at junior School. First playing Ebenezer in Aladdin and then playing a Turkish Knight. Ni still remembers his opening lines "insteps I the Turkish Knight, come from turkey land to fight! I'll fight thee King George! King George the man of courage bold?!"  With these immortal lines Neil was bitten by the bug to perform.

Neil was an excellent student and excelled at all of his subjects, winning prizes for his academic achievements throughout his school years. He was twice vice-captain and once captain of his class, three years in a row at Holgate Grammar School. It was at Holgate Neil would play in the school's first ever pantomime and he also helped with the set design. The same school attended by Michael Parkinson M.B.E and the late Brian Glover. Neil would go on to work along side & become friends with Brian.

In late 2001 Neil decided to full fill a life time ambition and pursue his acting career. Turning his world upside down and to many a surprise, he applied to The Central School of Speech And Drama. Over 1500 People auditioned for the 15 places. Neil was accepted into the school straight away. He left Barnsley for London on December 28th 2001.

Neil Studied at the Central School Of Speech and Drama from 2002-2003. Unable to afford the full financing for the three-year acting program, Neil embarked on four short courses each of eight weeks in length. These included; Fundamentals in Acting, Introduction to Text, Working Shakespeare & Working Text. The following year in 2004 Neil, as he was still known then used the library at Central and took advantage of all of the school's resources, to make up for anything lost by been unable to do the three-year course.

When Neil became a member of Spotlight in 2006, he had to change his name settling upon Ni, his nickname.

Since leaving Central Ni has appeared in theatre, television and film. Ni is currently re-covering from a period of ill health and he is writing his first collection of short stories and children's book entitled 'The Boy and the Apple Pip'. Ni currently lives in London with his girlfriend May.