Jack Nicholson (born April 22, 1937, Neptune,New Jersey, U.S.) is one of the most prominent American motion-picture actors of his generation, especially noted for hisversatile portrayals of unconventional, alienated outsiders.

Early life and career

Nicholson, whose father abandoned his family, grew up believing that his grandmother was his mother and that his mother was his older sister; it was not until he had attained fame that Nicholson himself learned the truth. After graduating fromhigh school, he moved toCalifornia, where he took an office job inMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s animation department. During the years 1957–58 he performed on stage with the Players Ring Theater inLos Angeles and landed some small roles ontelevision. About this time he metB-film kingRoger Corman, who offered him the leading role in his low-budgetfilmThe Cry Baby Killer (1958). Nicholson spent the next decade playing major roles in B-films (including several more for Corman), occasional supporting roles in A-films (such asEnsign Pulver, 1964), and guest roles on such television series asThe Andy Griffith Show. He also dabbled in screenwriting, with his best-known credits being Corman’sLSD-hallucination filmThe Trip (1967) and the surrealistic rompHead (1968), a box-office failure starringthe Monkees that has since attracted a cult following.

Stardom:Easy Rider,Five Easy Pieces, andOne Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

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Nicholson’s big break finally came withEasy Rider (1969), aseminal counterculture film starringPeter Fonda andDennis Hopper as drifting, drug-dealing bikers and Nicholson in a scene-stealing, Oscar-nominated supporting performance as an alcoholic lawyer. Nicholson’s newfound stardom was secured with his leading role inFive Easy Pieces (1970), an episodic,existentialistdrama and a major entry inHollywood’s “art film” movement of the early 1970s. Nicholson’s portrayal of a man alienated from his family, friends, career, and lovers garnered him an Oscar nomination for best actor. His next successful film, directorMike Nichols’sCarnal Knowledge (1971), was a darkly humorous condemnation of male sexual mores; it was perhaps mainstream Hollywood’s most sexually explicit film to date. Nicholson’s performance as an emotionally empty, predatory chauvinist showcased his talent for interjecting humor into serious situations as a means to underscoreinherent irony—typically, his darkest characters are wickedly funny.

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Nicholson earned another Oscar nomination forThe Last Detail (1973), in which he portrayed a rowdymilitary police officer who reluctantly escorts a young sailor to military prison. He next starred inRoman Polanski’sChinatown (1974), an homage to thefilm noir detective films of the 1940s and a widely acknowledged cinematic masterpiece. Nicholson’s brilliant performance as stylish private eye Jake Gittes, who realizes too late his impotence in the face of wealth and corruption, earned him a fourth Oscar nomination. The actor capped this highly successful period with his first Oscar win, forOne Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), in which his iconoclastic, free-spirited characterization of mental institution inmate R.P. McMurphy serves as ametaphor for the hopelessness of rebellion against established authority. Other notable Nicholson films from this period includeMichelangelo Antonioni’sProfessione: reporter (1975;The Passenger), in which Nicholson portrays a depressed reporter who assumes a dead man’s identity, andTommy (1975), directorKen Russell’s garish production ofthe Who’s rock opera, featuring Nicholson in a supporting singing role as the title character’s doctor.

The Shining,Terms of Endearment, andAs Good as It Gets

His stardom assured, Nicholson worked sporadically during the next few years. He costarred withMarlon Brando in theArthur PennwesternThe Missouri Breaks (1976), an uneven yet compellingly quirky film; and he directed and starred in another revisionist western,Goin’ South (1978). His next notable role was in directorStanley Kubrick’sThe Shining (1980); anadaptation of theStephen King novel, it is a film over which critical opinion remains divided but the one with Nicholson’s ax-wielding rampage—culminating in his demonic cry of “Heeeere’s Johnny!”—that became one of the indelible cinematic images of the era.

Nicholson appeared in several quality films during the 1980s, garnering further Academy Award nominations forReds (1981),Prizzi’s Honor (1985), andIronweed (1987) and winning abest supporting actor Oscar for his role as a drunken-but-decent ex-astronaut inTerms of Endearment (1983). Two of his most popular performances of the decade came inThe Witches of Eastwick (1987) andBatman (1989), which featured Nicholson’s over-the-top comic turns asthe Devil andthe Joker, respectively.

By the 1990s Nicholson was regarded as a screen icon. He began the decade bydirecting and starring inThe Two Jakes (1990), a sequel toChinatown that generatedlukewarm reviews. Better-received wereHoffa (1992), in which he portrayed the controversialTeamsters bossJimmy Hoffa, andA Few Good Men (1992), in which his supporting performance as a dyspeptic marine colonel earned him his 10th Oscar nomination, an all-time record for a male actor. His 11th nomination, for his portrayal of a misanthropic writer inAs Good as It Gets (1997), resulted in Nicholson’s third Oscar (his second for best actor).

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Later work

At the beginning of the 21st century, Nicholson continued to star in dramatic roles. After playing a world-weary former cop inSean Penn’sThe Pledge (2001), he scored another personaltriumph with his much-lauded performance as the title character inAlexander Payne’sAbout Schmidt (2002), a movie about a retired widower seeking to mend his relationship with his daughter. Nicholson’s understatedacting in the melancholic comedy earned him a 12th Academy Award nomination. In 2006 he appeared as Irish mobster Frank Costello inMartin Scorsese’sThe Departed.

Nicholson continued his success in comedic roles when he starred as an over-the-top psychiatrist inAnger Management (2003) and as an aging playboy who falls in love with a playwright (played byDiane Keaton) inSomething’s Gotta Give (2004). InThe Bucket List (2007) Nicholson andMorgan Freeman portray two terminally ill men who escape a hospital ward so they can accomplish everything they want to do before dying. He later appeared as anirascible father in theromantic comedyHow Do You Know (2010), his fourth collaboration with directorJames L. Brooks.

Although Nicholson’s widely imitated trademarks of a devilish smile and a slow, detached speaking style remained constant throughout the years, his screen persona mellowed in itsmetamorphosis from iconoclastic leading man to mainstream character actor, and his roles of later years reflect in many ways the maturation of his generation. As he entered his later years, he often played men with a youthful rebellious streak but who have also learned the value of sensitivity. Nicholson was awarded theAmerican Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award in 1994.