Jack Nicholson, born John Joseph Nicholson on April 22, 1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.

His mother, June Frances Nicholson, was a showgirl, and he was raised believing that his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his older sister. He discovered the truth in 1975 from a Time magazine journalist who was researching a profile on him.

His real father is believed to have been either Donald Furcillo, an Italian American showman, or Eddie King, born in Latvia and also in show business.

Jack Nicholson made his film debut in a B-movie titled The Cry Baby Killer in 1958. His rise in Hollywood was far from meteoric, and for years, he sustained his career with guest spots in television series and a number of Roger Corman films, including The Little Shop of Horrors.

His big break came with Easy Rider in 1969 and his portrayal of liquor-soaked attorney George Hanson, which earned Nicholson his first Oscar nomination. His film career took off in the 1970s with a definitive performance in Five Easy Pieces.

His other notable work during this period includes leading roles in Roman Polanski's noir masterpiece Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which he won his first Best Actor Oscar. The 1980s kicked off with another career-defining role for Nicholson as Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Shining.

A string of well-received films followed, including Terms of Endearment, which earned Nicholson his second Oscar, Prizzi's Honor, and The Witches of Eastwick. He portrayed another renowned villain, The Joker, in Tim Burton's Batman.

In the 1990s, he starred in such varied films as A Few Good Men, for which he received another Oscar nomination, and a dual role in Mars Attacks. Although a glimpse at the darker side of his acting range reappeared in The Departed, the actor's most recent roles highlight the physical and emotional complications one faces late in life.

Jack Nicholson has won three Academy Awards, for Best Actor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and in As Good as It Gets, and for Best Supporting Actor in Terms of Endearment.

He was Oscar-nominated for Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, Reds, Prizzi's Honor, Ironweed, A Few Good Men, and About Schmidt. Nicholson is also known for his notable roles in Carnal Knowledge, The Shining, Heartburn, Broadcast News, Batman, Hoffa, Mars Attacks, Something's Gotta Give, The Departed, and The Bucket List.

Jack Nicholson has directed three films, Drive, He Said, Goin' South, and The Two Jakes. He is one of only three male actors to win three Academy Awards and one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in films made in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s alongside Michael Caine.

His 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history.

Jack Nicholson has six children with five different women. His first child, Jennifer Nicholson, was born in 1963 during his marriage to Sandra Knight.

Seven years later, he fathered son Caleb Goddard with Five Easy Pieces co-star Susan Anspach. In 1981, Nicholson welcomed his third child, Honey Hollman, with model Winnie Hollman.

He shares his daughter Lorraine and son Ray with actress Rebecca Broussard. In 1994, he welcomed his youngest daughter, Tessa Gourin, with Jennine Gourin. However, Jack and Tessa have been estranged for most of her life.

Despite his complex personal life, Jack Nicholson has always maintained a close relationship with his children, especially Lorraine and Ray, whom he often took to opera, ballet, and ball games.

Throughout his five-decade career, Nicholson received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Film Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. He also received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1994 and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001.

In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure, a theme that resonated with audiences and critics alike.