Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director, is a three-time Academy Award winner and 12-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 1960s through the 2000s. Born on April 22, 1937 in Manhattan, New York, Nicholson was raised believing his grandmother was his mother, and his mother, a showgirl, was his older sister. He discovered the truth in 1975 from a Time magazine journalist who was researching a profile on him. Nicholson made his film debut in a B-movie titled The Cry Baby Killer (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 La petite boutique des horreurs (1960).

Nicholson's first turn in the director's chair was for Vas-y, fonce (1971). Before that, he wrote the screenplay for The Trip (1967), and co-wrote Head (1968), a vehicle for The Monkees. His big break came with Easy Rider (1969) and his portrayal of liquor-soaked attorney George Hanson, which earned Nicholson his first Oscar nomination. Nicholson's film career took off in the 1970s with a definitive performance in Cinq pièces faciles (1970). Nicholson's other notable work during this period includes leading roles in Roman Polanski's noir masterpiece Chinatown (1974) and Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975), 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 Shining (1980). A string of well-received films followed, including Tendres passions (1983) which earned Nicholson his second Oscar; L'honneur des Prizzi (1985) and Les sorcières d'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 Des hommes d'honneur (1992), for which he received another Oscar nomination, and a dual role in Mars Attacks! (1996).

Although a glimpse at the darker side of Nicholson's acting range reappeared in Les infiltrés (2006), the actor's most recent roles highlight the physical and emotional complications one faces late in life. The most notable of these is the unapologetically misanthropic Melvin Udall in Pour le pire et pour le meilleur (1997), for which he won his third Oscar. Shades of this persona are apparent in Monsieur Schmidt (2002), Tout peut arriver (2003) and Sans plus attendre (2007). In addition to his Oscar wins and nominations, Nicholson has seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. He also became one of the youngest actors to receive the American Film Institute's Life Achievement award in 1994.

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 16 years he spent with actress Anjelica Huston; it ended when Broussard become pregnant with his child.