Jack Nicholson
An American actor, producer, screen-writer and director.

Birth Name: John Joseph Nicholson

Born: April 22, 1937 (age 78), Neptune City, New Jersey, United States 

He is one of the most prominent American motion-picture actors of his generation. Nicholson's career has contained some of the seminal film in Hollywood history, including Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and his role as Jack in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining has become iconic. He is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received Oscar nods in every decade from sixties through the naughts.

Early Career:

Nicholson attended Manasquan High School. Although his grades were good enough to receive a partial scholarship offer, Nicholson was not interested in college. In 1954, Nicholson moved out to Los Angeles, California, where June, whom he still believed was his older sister, had an apartment. There, he worked part-time in a toy store and also landed a job as a gopher for the animation department of MGM Studios. An MGM producer named Joe Pasternak noticed Nicholson's good looks one day and landed him a spot in Jeff Corey's famed acting classes, as well as an apprenticeship at The Players Ring theater.

Film Debut and Breakthrough Perfomance:

Jack Nicholson made his film debut in the 1958 low-budget crime flick Cry Baby Killer,   he continued to appear in mostly low-budget horror films. After a small role in the 1960 dark comedy Little Shop of Horrors, Nicholson appeared in The Terror (1963), Back Door to Hell (1964), Ride in the Whirlwind (1965) and The Shooting (1966).  Nicholson's breakthrough performance came as alcoholic Southern lawyer George Hanson in the classic road movie Easy Rider (1969). He was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his performance and developed something of a cult following.  in 1970, Nicholson starred in the film Five Easy Pieces, and he  again received an Academy Award nomination for his performance, this time for best leading actor.  His next stellar performance was as a profane naval officer in the dark comedy The Last Detail (1973), once again landing him an Oscar nomination for best actor.

Continous success

The part earned Nicholson his fourth Oscar nomination, but again he did not win the award. He finally broke through with his first Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on Ken Kesey's famous novel of the same name, the film follows R.P. McMurphy (played by Nicholson), Nicholson delivered an eerie if perhaps over-the-top performance as a deranged hotel caretaker in the acclaimed film adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining.  A string of well-received films followed, including La fuerza del cariño (1983) which earned Nicholson his second Oscar; El honor de los Prizzi (1985) and Las brujas de Eastwick (1987). He portrayed another renowned villain, The Joker, in Tim Burton's Batman (1989). In the 1990s, he starred in such varied films as Cuestión de honor (1992), for which he received another Oscar nomination, and a dual role in ¡Marcianos al ataque! (1996).

Personal Life:

Nicholson has five children: Eldest daughter Jennifer Nicholson (b. 1963), from his marriage to Sandra Knight which ended in 1968; Caleb James Goddard (b. 1970) with Susan Anspach; Honey Hollman (b. 1981) with Danish supermodel, Winnie Hollman; and Lorraine Nicholson (b. 1990) and Ray Nicholson (b. 1992) with Rebecca Broussard. Nicholson's longest relationship was the seventeen years he spent with actress Anjelica Huston; it ended when Broussard become pregnant with his child.