Born John Joseph Nicholson in Neptune, NJ; graduated from Manasquan High School Manasquan, NJ. The very personification of the Hollywood movie star, Jack Nicholson has developed a singular persona in the motion picture industry as a highly skilled and reliable performer whose mischievous charisma has made him highly popular both on and off the screen. Abandoned by his father in his childhood, he was raised believing his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his older sister. The truth was revealed to him years later when a Time magazine researcher uncovered the truth while preparing a story on the star. Nicholson was a 32-year-old veteran of low-budget movies, most of them produced by Roger Corman, when he captured the attention of Hollywood and film audiences in the cult hit EASY RIDER (1969). In an Oscar®-nominated role, Nicholson portrayed a dissipated Southern lawyer who finds a temporary kind of freedom on the road with two long-haired bikers. Nicholson's breakthrough role established an instant rapport with both male and female filmgoers and set a pattern which many subsequent parts would follow: beneath the exterior of a normal nerd existed the heart and soul of a maniac. In FIVE EASY PIECES (1970), Nicholson portrayed a rebellious soul sending out cries of distress about the banality of a life pursued without artistic ambition or love. Nicholson's naturalistic performance, with its minimal gestures and occasional explosions of temper, seemed to re-define screen cynicism for the decade. A series of extraordinary collaborations with strong directors followed: with Mike Nichols in CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971), with Hal Ashby in THE LAST DETAIL (1973) and with Roman Polanski in CHINATOWN (1974) -- a role that had him wearing a bandage around his nose through torrid love scenes. Oscar nominations for these last two films inched him toward his receipt of the Award, for his powerhouse performance in Milos Forman's ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975). (As usual, in a world of madmen, the Nicholson character was seen to suffer from his own sanity.) Nicholson is known as an actor's actor, a professional who takes on unlikely and challenging roles. For Stanley Kubrick, he became a writer blocked into madness in THE SHINING (1980) and for Michelangelo Antonioni, he portrayed an American reporter drifting through a revolution, the alienated alien of THE PASSENGER (1975). He claims to choose his roles as much for the opportunity of working with actors he admires as for directors, and he has given some unusual character turns: as a rustler with Marlon Brando in THE MISSOURI BREAKS (1976); as an ex-astronaut with Shirley MacLaine in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983); as a TV anchorman with William Hurt in BROADCAST NEWS (1987); and as a bleary bum with Meryl Streep in IRONWEED (1987). (It was reported that during the filming of IRONWEED Nicholson's contract guaranteed breaks for him to attend every Los Angeles Lakers basketball game. He is an ardent and highly visible fan, even rumored to be an investor in the team.) Nicholson reportedly demands and gets $15 million per film, but his fame and good fortune may have affected his career for the worse. His roles as the laughable lothario in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987) or as The Joker in Tim Burton's BATMAN (1989) enhanced the productions and permitted him to explore his comedic talents. Despite the critical acclaim he garnered for his showy "against-type" star turn in Rob Reiner's A FEW GOOD MEN and his more ambitious performance in Danny De Vito's HOFFA (both 1992), Nicholson's success seems to have banned him from the roles that "make his feelings come through his skin," as Pauline Kael once wrote. One wonders if his feelings have been insulated by the money and system his characters once tried to buck. Even if this is true, Nicholson continues to give compelling performances that confirm his status as one of the cinema's greatest stars. In keeping with his desire to collaborate with top-drawer talent, he reunited with Mike Nichols to play a werewolf in WOLF (1994), co-starring opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, and re-teamed with director James L. Brooks for another Oscar-winning performance in AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997) opposite Helen Hunt. Other notable (non-nominated) credits include ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (1970), THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972), TOMMY and THE FORTUNE (both 1975), THE LAST TYCOON (1976), GOIN' SOUTH (1978), THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981), THE BORDER (1982), HEARTBURN (1986), THE CROSSING GUARD (1995), THE EVENING STAR (1996, reprising his role in "Terms of Endearment"), MARS ATTACKS! (1996, as President James Dale/Art Land), THE PLEDGE (2001), ANGER MANAGEMENT and SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE (both 2003), THE DEPARTED (2006) and THE BUCKET LIST (2008).  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1969: EASY RIDER  Nominated for Actor 1970: FIVE EASY PIECES  Nominated for Actor 1973: THE LAST DETAIL  Nominated for Actor 1974: CHINATOWN  Actor 1975: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST  Nominated for Supporting Actor 1981: REDS  Supporting Actor 1983: TERMS OF ENDEARMENT  Nominated for Actor 1985: PRIZZI'S HONOR  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1987: IRONWEED  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1992: A FEW GOOD MEN  Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1997: AS GOOD AS IT GETS  Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 2002: ABOUT SCHMIDT 12 nominations, 3 Awards