Age, Biography, and Wiki
Jack Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937, making him 88 years old as of 2025. He is an American actor and filmmaker with a career that has spanned over six decades. Nicholson is renowned for his charismatic performances and has been nominated for numerous awards throughout his career, including twelve Academy Award nominations.
| Occupation | Democrats |
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| Date of Birth | 22 April 1937 |
| Age | 88 Years |
| Birth Place | Neptune City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | Jersey |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Jack Nicholson stands at about 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall and has maintained a fit physique throughout his life. However, specific details about his current weight are not readily available.
| Height | 5 feet 9 inches |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Jack Nicholson has been involved in several high-profile relationships throughout his life. He has been married once, to Sandra Knight from 1962 to 1968, and has five children from his various relationships. Currently, he is divorced and not publicly linked to any significant other.
Nicholson's mother was of Irish, English, German, and Welsh descent. Nicholson has identified as Irish, comparing himself to the playwright Eugene O'Neill, whom he played in the film Reds (1981): "I'm not saying I'm as dark as he was ... but I am a writer, I am Irish, I have had problems with my family." His mother married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose; 1909–1997) in 1936, before realizing that he was already married. Biographer Patrick McGilligan stated in his book Jack's Life that Latvian-born Eddie King (originally Edgar A. Kirschfeld), June's manager, may have been Nicholson's biological father, rather than Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of the father's identity.
As June was only 17 and unmarried, her parents agreed to raise Nicholson as their own child without revealing his true parentage, with June acting as his sister. In 1974, Time magazine researchers learned, and informed Nicholson, that his "sister", June, was actually his mother, and his other "sister", Lorraine, was really his aunt. By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). On finding out, Nicholson said it was "a pretty dramatic event, but it wasn't what I'd call traumatizing ... I was pretty well psychologically formed".
In 1970, Nicholson starred in Five Easy Pieces alongside Karen Black in what became his persona-defining role. Nicholson and Black were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. Nicholson played Bobby Dupea, an oil rig worker, and Black played his waitress girlfriend. Black noted that Nicholson's character in the film was very subdued and very different from Nicholson's real personality. She said that the now-infamous restaurant scene was partly improvised by Nicholson, and was out of character for Bobby, who would not have cared enough to argue with a waitress. "I think that Jack really has very little in common with Bobby. I think Bobby has given up looking for love. But Jack hasn't, he's very interested in love, in finding out things. Jack is a very curious, alive human being. Always ready for a new idea." Nicholson himself said as much, telling an interviewer, "I like listening to everybody. This to me is the elixir of life."
Nicholson had been friends with Polanski long before the murder of Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family, and supported him in the days following her death. After Tate's death, Nicholson began sleeping with a hammer under his pillow and took breaks from work to attend Manson's trial.
In 1977, three years after Chinatown, Polanski was arrested at Nicholson's home for the sexual assault of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, who was modeling for Polanski during a magazine photo shoot around the pool. At the time, Nicholson was out of town making a film, but his steady girlfriend, actress Anjelica Huston, had dropped by unannounced to pick up some items. She heard Polanski in the other room say, "We'll be right out." Polanski then came out with Geimer and introduced her to Huston, and they chatted about Nicholson's two large dogs, which were sitting nearby. Huston recalled Geimer was wearing platform heels and appeared quite tall. After a few minutes of talking, Polanski had packed up his camera gear and Huston saw them drive off in his car. Huston told police the next day, after Polanski was arrested, that she "had witnessed nothing untoward" and never saw them together in the other room.
Although he garnered no Academy Award for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), his role in the film as writer Jack Torrance remains one of his more significant. He was Kubrick's first choice to play the role, although the book's author, Stephen King, wanted more of an "everyman". Kubrick won the argument and called Nicholson's acting "on a par with the greatest stars of the past, like Spencer Tracy and Jimmy Cagney". In preparation for the role, Nicholson drew upon his own experiences as a writer and slept short hours to help remain in an agitated state during the shoot. His co-star Shelley Duvall recalled that she and Nicholson spent many hours discussing their characters, with Nicholson maintaining that his character be cold to her from the start. On the set, Nicholson always appeared in character and if Kubrick felt confident that Nicholson knew his lines well enough, he encouraged him to improvise beyond the script. For example, Nicholson improvised his now-famous "Here's Johnny!" line, along with a scene in which he unleashes his anger on his wife when she interrupts his work. There were also extensive takes of scenes, due to Kubrick's perfectionism. Nicholson shot a scene with the ghostly bartender 36 times. He said, "Stanley's demanding. He'll do a scene fifty times, and you have to be good to do that."
Nicholson won his next Academy Award for Best Actor in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets (1997), his third film directed by James L. Brooks. He played Melvin Udall, a "wickedly funny", mean-spirited novelist with obsessive-compulsive disorder. "I'm a studio Method actor", he said. "So I was prone to give some kind of clinical presentation of the disorder." His Oscar was matched by the Academy Award for Best Actress for Helen Hunt, who played a Manhattan single mother drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner in the restaurant where she works as a waitress. The film was a box-office success, grossing $314 million, making it Nicholson's second-best-grossing film, after Batman. The win was Nicholson's third Academy Award, tying him with six other actors, Walter Brennan, Ingrid Bergman, Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Frances McDormand who all have three acting Oscars.
Nicholson admits he initially disliked playing a middle-aged man alongside a much younger Hunt, seeing it as a movie cliché. "But Helen disarmed that at the first meeting", he says, "and I stopped thinking about it." They got along well during the filming, with Hunt saying that he "treated me like a queen", and they connected immediately: "It wasn't even what we said", she said. "It was just some frequency we both could tune into that was very, very compatible." Critic Jack Mathews of Newsday said Nicholson was "in rare form", adding, "it's one of those performances that make you aware how much fun the actor is having". Author and screenwriter Andrew Horton describes their on-screen relationship as being like "fire and ice, oil and water—seemingly complete opposites".
In 2001, Nicholson was the first actor to receive the Stanislavsky Award at the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival for "conquering the heights of acting and faithfulness". That same year Nicholson starred in The Pledge, a mystery drama where he portrays retired police detective Jerry Black, who vows to find a murderer of a young girl. Nicholson was praised for his performance; Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "deeply felt" compared to some of Nicholson's other films. Nicholson acted in Alexander Payne's comedy-drama About Schmidt (2002), playing a retired Omaha, Nebraska, actuary who questions his own life after his wife dies. His quietly restrained performance earned him nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. In Anger Management (2003), he played an aggressive therapist assigned to help an overly pacifist man (portrayed by Adam Sandler).
In 2003, Nicholson also starred in the Nancy Meyers directed romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give playing an aging playboy who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend. For his performance he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the dark side in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning film The Departed, a remake of Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs, playing Frank Costello, a nefarious Boston Irish Mob boss based on Whitey Bulger, who was still on the run at the time. The role earned Nicholson worldwide critical praise, along with various awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture nomination. In 2007, Nicholson co-starred with Morgan Freeman in Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, in which Nicholson and Freeman portrayed dying men who fulfill their list of goals. In researching the role, Nicholson visited a Los Angeles hospital to see how cancer patients coped with their illnesses.
Five Easy Pieces co-star Susan Anspach contended that her son Caleb (b. September 26, 1970), whose legal father was Mark Goddard, was actually Nicholson's biological son. In 1984, Nicholson said he was not convinced of this, but in 1996, Caleb said that Nicholson had recognized him as his son in private. By 1998, Nicholson publicly acknowledged Caleb as his son and said that they got along "beautifully now".
In 1971 and 1972, Nicholson was in a relationship with singer Michelle Phillips, the ex-wife of his best friend Dennis Hopper, during which time she suffered a miscarriage. Nicholson's longest relationship was with actress Anjelica Huston, from 1973 until 1990. Their on-again, off-again romance included several periods of overlap with other women, notably former Bond girl Jill St. John and Danish model Winnie Hollman, with whom Nicholson had a daughter, Honey Hollman (born January 26, 1982). In 1999, it was discovered that Honey's biological father is producer Lou Adler. Despite this, Honey later stated she has a “normal father-daughter relationship” with Nicholson.
The relationship with Huston ended amid actress Rebecca Broussard's first pregnancy by Nicholson. He and Broussard had two children, Lorraine (b. April 16, 1990) and Raymond (b. February 20, 1992). The pair split up in 1994. That same year, Nicholson reportedly had a daughter, Tessa (b. August 15, 1994), with waitress Jeannine Gourin. Nicholson has never publicly acknowledged Tessa as his child.
Nicholson has said 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". 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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| Husband | Sandra Knight (m. 1962-1968) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, estimates of Jack Nicholson's net worth vary, with figures ranging from $400 million to $590 million. His wealth is not only from his acting career but also from significant investments in real estate and art. He has reportedly earned around $50 million annually. One of his most lucrative roles was in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," where he earned a base salary of $1 million plus a percentage of the gross earnings, totaling $15 million by 1978.
Within a month after its release that September, Five Easy Pieces became a blockbuster, making Nicholson a leading man and the "new American anti-hero", according to McDougal. Critics began speculating as to whether he might become another Marlon Brando or James Dean. His career and income skyrocketed. He said, "I have [become] much sought after. Your name becomes a brand image like a product. You become Campbell's soup, with thirty-one different varieties of roles you can play." He told his new agent, Sandy Bresler, to find him unusual roles so he could stretch his acting skill: "I like to play people that haven't existed yet, a 'cusp character, he said, "I have that creative yearning. Much in the way Chagall flies figures into the air: once it becomes part of the conventional wisdom, it doesn't seem particularly adventurous or weird or wild."
Also in 1970, Nicholson appeared in the film adaptation of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, although most of his performance was left on the cutting room floor. His agent turned down a starring role in Deliverance when the film's producer and director, John Boorman, refused to pay what Nicholson's agent wanted. In 1971, Nicholson starred in Carnal Knowledge, a comedy-drama directed by Mike Nichols and co-starring Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, and Candice Bergen. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Nichols felt few actors could handle the role, saying, "There is James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, and Henry Fonda. After that, who is there but Jack Nicholson?" During the filming, Nicholson struck up what became a lifelong friendship with Garfunkel. When he visited Los Angeles, Garfunkel stayed at Nicholson's home in a room Nicholson jokingly called "the Arthur Garfunkel Suite".
Nicholson supports solar energy, decriminalizing drugs, monopoly laws, and raising teachers' pay. Although personally against abortion, he is pro-choice. He has said, "I'm pro-choice but against abortion because I'm an illegitimate child myself, and it would be hypocritical to take any other position. I'd be dead. I wouldn't exist." He has also said that he has "nothing but total admiration, gratitude, and respect for the strength of the women who made the decision they made in my individual case".
Career, Business, and Investments
Jack Nicholson's career is marked by iconic roles in films like "Easy Rider," "Chinatown," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and "Batman." He has appeared in over sixty films and has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor. Beyond acting, Nicholson has made smart investments in real estate and art, contributing significantly to his net worth. His real estate portfolio alone is valued at over $100 million, and his art collection is worth $150 million.
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-decade-long career, he received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Nicholson first came to California in 1950, when he was 13, to visit his sister. He took a job as an office worker for animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the MGM cartoon studio. They offered him an entry-level job as an animator, but he declined, citing his desire to become an actor. While accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 56th Golden Globe Awards, he recalled that his first day as a working actor (on Tales of Wells Fargo) was May 5, 1955, which he considered lucky, as 5 was the jersey number of his boyhood idol, Joe DiMaggio. He trained to be an actor with a group called the Players Ring Theater, after which he found small parts performing on the stage and in TV soap operas. He made his film debut in a low-budget teen drama The Cry Baby Killer (1958), playing the title role. For the next decade, Nicholson frequently collaborated with the film's producer, Roger Corman. Corman directed Nicholson on several occasions, such as in The Little Shop of Horrors as undertaker (and masochistic dental patient) Wilbur Force; in The Raven; The Terror, where he plays a French officer seduced by an evil ghost; and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Nicholson frequently worked with director Monte Hellman on low-budget westerns; two of them—Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting—initially failed to interest U.S. film distributors but gained cult success on the French art-house circuit and were later sold to television. Nicholson also appeared in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, and starred as a rebellious dirt-track race driver in the 1960 film The Wild Ride.
With his acting career foundering, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the screenplay for the 1967 counterculture film The Trip (directed by Corman), starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. After first reading the script, Fonda told Nicholson he was impressed by the writing and felt it could become a great film. But Fonda was disappointed with how the film turned out and blamed the editing for turning it into a "predictable" film and said so publicly. "I was livid", he recalls. Nicholson also co-wrote, with Bob Rafelson, the movie Head, which starred The Monkees, and arranged the movie's soundtrack.
Nicholson's first big acting break came when a role opened up in Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider (1969). He played alcoholic lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination. The film cost only $400,000 to make, and became a blockbuster, grossing $40 million. Biographer John Parker writes that Nicholson's interpretation of his role placed him in the company of earlier antihero actors, such as James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, while promoting him into an "overnight number-one hero of the counter-culture movement". The part was a lucky break for Nicholson. The role had been written for Rip Torn, who withdrew from the project after an argument with Hopper. Nicholson later acknowledged the importance of being cast in Easy Rider: "All I could see in the early films, before Easy Rider, was this desperate young actor trying to vault out of the screen and create a movie career." Stanley Kubrick, who was impressed by his performance in Easy Rider, cast Nicholson as Napoleon in a film about his life, and although production on the film commenced, the project fizzled out, partly due to a change in ownership at MGM.
Other Nicholson roles included Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973), with Randy Quaid, for which Nicholson won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for his third Oscar and a Golden Globe. Television journalist David Gilmour writes that one of his favorite Nicholson scenes from all his films was the often censored one in this film, when Nicholson slaps his gun on the bar yelling he was the Shore Patrol. Critic Roger Ebert called it a very good movie, but credited Nicholson's acting as the main reason: "He creates a character so complete and so complex that we stop thinking about the movie and just watch to see what he'll do next." In 1974, Nicholson starred in Roman Polanski's noir thriller Chinatown, and was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Jake Gittes, a private detective. The film co-starred Faye Dunaway and John Huston, and included a cameo role with Polanski. Ebert called Nicholson's portrayal sharp-edged, menacing, and aggressive, a character who knew "how to go over the top", as he did in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. That edge kept Chinatown from becoming a typical genre crime film. Ebert also notes the importance of the role for Nicholson's career, seeing it as a major transition from the exploitation films of the previous decade. "As Jake Gittes, he stepped into Bogart's shoes", says Ebert. "As a man attractive to audiences because he suggests both comfort and danger ... From Gittes forward, Nicholson created the persona of a man who had seen it all and was still capable of being wickedly amused."
Nicholson has described Marlon Brando as a major influence on his career. He stated, "Actors don't normally discuss who the best actor in the world is, because it's obvious—Brando is the best.” He also named John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, and Orson Welles as his favorite directors.
Social Network
Jack Nicholson is not active on major social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter. He prefers to keep a low profile in the digital age, focusing more on his private life and occasional public appearances.
"He's what the Thirties and Forties stars were like. He can come on the set and deliver, without any fuss, without taking a long time walking around getting into it. 'What do you want? Okay.' And he just does it straight off. And then if you want him to do it another way on the next take, he can adapt to that too."
Nicholson won his second Oscar, an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (1983), directed by James L. Brooks. It starred Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. McGilligan claims it was one of Nicholson's most complex and unforgettable characters. He and MacLaine played many of their scenes in different ways, constantly testing and making adjustments. Their scenes together gave the film its "buoyant edge", states McGilligan, and describes Nicholson's acting as "Jack floating like a butterfly".
During an appearance in the November 2, 2023, episode of Marc Maron's podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, record producer Lou Adler, a longtime friend of Nicholson's, related an anecdote pertaining to the unofficial retirement of the actor, who had not done a film in the 13 years since How Do You Know, saying, "A friend of mine wanted to put him in a movie. And he had a conversation with him. But Jack says, 'I don't want to do it.' He goes, 'You know what I did today? I sat under a tree and I read a book.' That sounds like Jack." Adler stated that Nicholson was "doing whatever he really wants to do," adding, "He wants to be quiet. He wants to eat what he wants. He wants to live the life he wants."
Education
Nicholson attended the Actors Studio in New York City, where he honed his acting skills. Before becoming a successful actor, he worked as a mail clerk and later as a film editor for a small animation company.
In summary, Jack Nicholson's success is a testament to his talent, strategic career choices, and savvy business investments. Despite his retirement from acting, his legacy continues to influence the film industry, and his wealth remains a reflection of his enduring impact on Hollywood.
Nicholson grew up in Neptune City, New Jersey. Before starting high school, his family moved to an apartment in Spring Lake, New Jersey. "Nick", as he was known to his high school friends, attended nearby Manasquan High School, where he was voted "Class Clown" by the Class of 1954. He was in detention every day for a whole school year. A theatre and a drama award at the school are named in his honor. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50-year high school reunion accompanied by his aunt Lorraine.
Only Katharine Hepburn, with four Oscars, won more. Nicholson is an active and voting member of the Academy. In May 2008, the California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Nicholson would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum in Sacramento. The induction ceremony took place on December 15, 2008, where he was inducted alongside 11 other Californians. In 2010, Nicholson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2011, Nicholson received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Brown University at its 243rd commencement. At the ceremony, Ruth Simmons, Brown University's president, called him "the most skilled actor of our lifetime".
