Jack Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is a legendary American actor and filmmaker, a true icon of New Hollywood cinema celebrated for his charismatic, rebellious, and often unhinged performances, and for holding the record as the most-nominated male actor in Academy Awards history.
After a decade in B-movies, including a memorable turn as a masochistic dental patient in Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Nicholson was launched to superstardom with his breakout role as a drunken lawyer in the counter-culture classic Easy Rider (1969). He went on to define the 1970s with a string of iconic performances, including his role as the cynical detective J.J. Gittes in the masterpiece noir Chinatown (1974) and his unforgettable, Oscar-winning portrayal of the rebellious patient Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).
His incredible career includes two more Oscar wins, for playing the eccentric ex-astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (1983) and the misanthropic author Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets (1997). He has also created some of cinema’s most memorable characters, including the deranged Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980), the maniacal Joker in Batman (1989), and the ruthless Colonel Jessup who “can’t handle the truth” in A Few Good Men (1992).
With 12 Oscar nominations, a record for any male actor, and an American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, Jack Nicholson’s legacy is that of one of the most brilliant, unpredictable, and essential actors in modern film history.
