Nikos Tsoukalas was born in Athens. He began his musical studies in 1997 in double bass with Takis Kapoyiannis and in theory with Vassilis Foster, Iosef Papadatos at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory. In 2000 he got the harmony diploma with honors and in 2002 the double bass diploma honors unanimously.
In 2003 he was awarded a scholarship by the Natinal Scholarships Foundation for postgraduate studies abroad. In September 2004 he was accepted by the Royal Academy of London in the Masters of Music in performance program with teachers Duncan McTier, Corin Long and Graham Mitchel in double bass, but also Neil Heyde, Peter Sheppard in the academic courses. He gave the final recital in October 2006, graduating with the highest grade (distinction), as well as the honorary award "Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music for an outstanding final recital".
He has participated in seminars-master classes with many important performers of the instrument, such as Duncan McTier, Thomas Martin, Petya Bagovska, Jorma Katrama, Dan Styffe, Thierry Barbe.
In London he had a rich artistic activity and has played in some of the city's most important concert centers such as the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden, as well as the Hamstead Parish Church and the Hellenic Center under the baton of important directors such as Sir Colin Davies, Sir Charles Macheras, Hugh Wolf, Jan Pascal Tortelier, Danielle Gatty.
In 2005 he was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, while from October 2006 to September 2008, when he was hired as a permanent musician of the Athens State Orchestra, he was a member of the orchestra of the National Opera. Since 2018, he has been leading double bassist in the Athens State Orchestra.

In addition to his orchestral activities, he has a rich presence on the music scene as a soloist as he has collaborated with the Athens State Orchestra in the Vanhal and Bottesini concerts and with ASON in the Koussevitzky concerto, while he has performed recitals in London and Athens with many first performances to his credit. Works by Iosef Papadatos, Cornelios Selamsis and Minas Borboudakis have been written especially for N. Tsoukalas.

He is also a member of the most important Greek chamber music ensemble Ergon Ensemble, with performances in Greece and abroad, performing contemporary creations of 20th and 21st century composers and with many t pan-Hellenic or world premieres of works of the contemporary repertoire.
Finally, he is a founding member of the Athens Classical Players string ensemble who, from 2019 until today, have made their presence felt in the Greek concert scene with online concerts and live concerts throughout the territory. Today he teaches double bass at the Philippos Nakas Conservatory.