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Jack Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey, on April 22, 1937, and grew up in Manasquan, New Jersey, about 50 miles south of the city on the Jersey Shore. The people he believed to be his parents were named John and Ethel May Nicholson. John was a department store window dresser and Ethel May was a hairdresser as well as a talented oil painter. June Nicholson, whom he believed was his older sister, was an aspiring actress.June died of cancer in 1963, when Jack Nicholson was 26 years old. More than a decade after her death, in 1974, a TIME magazine reporter researching a cover story on Nicholson discovered some shocking information: June was in fact Nicholson's mother and John and Ethel May were his maternal grandparents. Since June was 17 years old, unmarried and uncertain of the father's identity at the time of Nicholson's birth, her parents agreed to treat Nicholson as their own child and never reveal to him his true parentage. Nicholson attended Manasquan High School. Although his grades were good enough to receive a partial scholarship offer, Nicholson was not interested in college. He recalled, "I wasn't filled with a burning desire to make something of myself in those days. And since I was only 16, I figured I had plenty of time to go to college later& So I hung around Jersey for about a year. I made a little money at the racetrack, and I worked as a lifeguard at the beach one summer."
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

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Nicholson's only marriage was to Sandra Knight from June 17, 1962, to August 8, 1968; they had been separated for two years prior to the divorce. They had one daughter together, Jennifer (born September 16, 1963).Between April 1973 and January 1990, Nicholson had an on-again, off-again relationship with actress Anjelica Huston that included periods of overlap with other women, including Danish model Winnie Hollman, by whom he fathered a daughter, Honey Hollman (born 1981)From 1989 to 1994, Nicholson had a relationship with actress Rebecca Broussard. They had two children together: daughter Lorraine (born April 16, 1990), and son Raymond (born February 20, 1992. For over a year, from 1999 to 2000, Nicholson dated actress Lara Flynn Boyle; they later reunited, before splitting permanently in 2004. Nicholson has stated that children "give your life a resonance that it can't have without them ... As a father, I'm there all the time. I give unconditional love. However, he has also lamented that he "didn't see enough of my eldest daughter because I was trying to make a career"

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Nicholson turned in one of the most acclaimed performances of his career in director Roman Polanski's brilliant 1974 neo-noir Chinatown. He portrayed a private eye named Jake Gittes who is tasked with tracking down a 🤬 in perhaps his most nuanced and complex role. 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), a convict who is placed in a mental institution where the nurses and doctors attempt to quash his rebellious spirit. In 1980, 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.

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Jack Nicholson made his film debut in the 1958 low-budget crime flick Cry Baby Killer, playing a teenager who mistakenly believes he committed 🤬. Throughout the 1960s, 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 🤬 (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. Then, in 1970, Nicholson starred in the film Five Easy Pieces, a surprise hit in which he played a disaffected former musical prodigy. Nicholson again received an Academy Award nomination for his performance, this time for best leading actor. His next stellar performance was as a profane U.S. Navy petty officer in the dark comedy The Last Detail(1973), once again landing him an Oscar nomination for best actor.

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With 12 Academy Award nominations (eight for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor), Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history. Only Nicholson (1960s–2000s), Michael Caine (1960s–2000s), Meryl Streep(1970s–2010s), Paul Newman (1950s–1960s, 1980s–2000s), and Laurence Olivier (1930s–1970s) have been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting) Academy Award in five different decades.
With three Oscar wins, he also ties with Walter Brennan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ingrid Bergman, and Meryl Streep for the second-most Oscar wins in acting categories. Only Katharine Hepburn, with four Oscars, won more.
In 2012, Nicholson co-presented the Academy Award for Best Picture with First Lady Michelle Obama. This ceremony marked the eighth time he has presented the Academy Award for Best Picture (1972, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2006, 2007, and 2012). Nicholson is an active and voting member of the Academy.

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Jack Nicholson winning an Oscar® for "As Good as it Gets"