1958–1969: Early roles and breakthrough '' (1960)|left|193x193px 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. 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 (a
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. at the 1971
Golden Globes|213x213px 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 $60 million. 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.
1970–1989: Stardom and acclaim 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." Black later admitted that she had a crush on Nicholson from the time they met, although they dated only briefly. "He was very beautiful. He just looked right at you ... I liked him a lot ... He really sort of wanted to date me but I didn't think of him that way because I was going with
Peter Kastner ... Then I went to do
Easy Rider, but didn't see him because we didn't have any scenes together ... At the premiere, I saw him out in the lobby afterward and I started crying ... He didn't understand that, but what it was was that I really loved him a lot, and I didn't know it until I saw him again, because it all welled up." 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 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 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." Geimer learned afterward that Huston herself was not supposed to be at Nicholson's house that day, since they had recently broken up, but stopped over to pick up some belongings. Geimer described Nicholson's house as "definitely" a guy's house, with lots of wood and shelves crowded with photos and mementos. , Nicholson,
Louise Fletcher and
Michael Douglas at the
1976 Academy Awards One of Nicholson's successes came in 1975, with his role as
Randle P. McMurphy in ''
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''. The movie was an adaptation of
Ken Kesey's novel of the
same name, and was directed by
Miloš Forman and co-produced by
Michael Douglas. Nicholson plays an anti-authoritarian patient at a mental hospital where he becomes an inspiring leader for the other patients. Playing one of the patients was
Danny DeVito in an early role. Nicholson learned afterward that DeVito grew up in the same area of New Jersey, and they knew many of the same people. The film received nine nominations at the Academy Awards, and won five, including Nicholson's first for
Best Actor. The role seemed perfect for Nicholson, with biographer Ken Burke noting that his "smartass demeanor balances his genuine concern for the treatment of his fellow patients with his independent spirit too free to exist in a repressive social structure". Forman allowed Nicholson to improvise throughout the film, including most of the group therapy sequences. It was shot in Algeria, Spain, Germany, and England. The film received good reviews and revived Antonioni's reputation as a great director. yet upon its completion he thought so highly of the film that he bought the world rights and recorded a reminiscence of working with Antonioni. "I'm part of the first generation that idolized Marlon Brando", he said. Nicholson has observed that while both De Niro and Brando were noted for their skill as
method actors, he himself has seldom been described as one, a fact he sees as an accomplishment: "I'm still fooling them", he told
Sean Penn. "I consider it an accomplishment because there's probably no one who understands Method acting better academically than I do—or actually uses it more in his work. But it's funny, nobody really sees that. It's perception versus reality, I guess." 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. He said, "Stanley's demanding. He'll do a scene fifty times, and you have to be good to do that." in
Batman (1989) In 1982, Nicholson starred as an immigration enforcement agent in
The Border, directed by
Tony Richardson. It co-starred
Warren Oates, who played a corrupt border official. Richardson wanted Nicholson to play his role less expressively than he had in his earlier roles. "Less is more", he told him, and wanted him to wear reflecting sunglasses to portray what patrolmen wore.
John Huston, who directed ''Prizzi's Honor'', said of Nicholson's acting, "He just illuminates the book. He impressed me in one scene after another; the movie is composed largely of first takes with him." In
Tim Burton's 1989 superhero film
Batman, Nicholson portrayed the
Joker opposite
Michael Keaton as
the title character. The film was an international smash hit, and a lucrative deal earned him a percentage of the box office gross estimated at $60 million to $90 million. Nicholson said that he was "particularly proud" of his performance as the Joker, calling it "a piece of
pop art". One review describes his performance as "spellbinding", adding that he portrayed "the essence of the quintessential military mindset". Critic David Thomson notes that Nicholson's character "blazed and roared". He received two
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor nominations for
Man Trouble (1992) and
Hoffa (1992), although his performance in
Hoffa also earned him a
Golden Globe nomination. David Thomson states that the film was terribly neglected, since Nicholson portrayed one of his best screen characters, someone who is "snarly, dumb, smart, noble, rascally—all the parts of 'Jack'". His Oscar was matched by the
Academy Award for Best Actress for his co-star
Helen Hunt, who played a
Manhattan single mother and waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall. The film was a box-office success, grossing $314 million, making it Nicholson's second-best-grossing film, after
Batman. 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".
2000–present: Later roles and extended break 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 written by Swiss author
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 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 was one of several celebrities who participated in a telethon shortly after the
September 11th attacks. Nicholson acted in
Alexander Payne's comedy-drama
About Schmidt (2002), playing a retired Nebraska
actuary who questions his own life after his wife dies. His quietly restrained performance earned him nominations for an
Academy Award,
BAFTA Award, and
Actor Award and won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama and the
Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor. In
Anger Management (2003), he played an aggressive therapist assigned to help an overly pacifist man, portrayed by
Adam Sandler. Also 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 in a Movie – Musical or Comedy. In 2006, Nicholson returned to darker roles as
Frank Costello, a nefarious
Boston Irish Mob boss based on
Whitey Bulger, in
Martin Scorsese’s
Best Picture–winning film
The Departed, a remake of
Andrew Lau’s
Infernal Affairs. The role earned Nicholson worldwide critical praise and
BAFTA,
Golden Globe,
Critics' Choice, and
Actor Award nominations. 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. Nicholson's next film role saw him reunite with
James L. Brooks, director of
Terms of Endearment,
Broadcast News and
As Good as It Gets, for a supporting role for the 2010 film
How Do You Know starring
Paul Rudd,
Reese Witherspoon, and
Owen Wilson. The film was a massive financial and critical failure. In a September 2013
Vanity Fair article, Nicholson said that he did not consider himself retired, but that he was now less driven to "be out there anymore".
How Do You Know remains Nicholson's last film role, and brings his filmography to 80 films. In 2013, Nicholson co-presented the
Academy Award for Best Picture with First Lady
Michelle Obama, the eighth time he presented the Academy Award for Best Picture (1972, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2006, 2007, and 2013). On February 15, 2015, Nicholson made a special appearance as a presenter on
SNL 40, the 40th anniversary special of
Saturday Night Live. After the death of boxer
Muhammad Ali on June 3, 2016, Nicholson appeared on
HBO's
The Fight Game with Jim Lampley for an exclusive interview about his friendship with Ali. He was reported to be starring in an English-language remake of
Toni Erdmann in 2017 opposite
Kristen Wiig, his first feature film role since
How Do You Know, but the project was later abandoned. In October 2019, with the release of
The Shining sequel
Doctor Sleep, director
Mike Flanagan revealed he approached Nicholson for a
cameo appearance, but Nicholson declined with best wishes. Flanagan also disclosed that Nicholson had previously been approached to appear in
Steven Spielberg's science-fiction film
Ready Player One (2018). On February 16, 2025, Nicholson made a rare appearance on
SNL 50, the 50th anniversary special of
Saturday Night Live. He introduced Adam Sandler, who performed a tribute song to the show. == Influence ==