Film actor Jack Nicholson is born in Neptune, New Jersey.

    Nicholson's father, an alcoholic, left his mother before Jack was born. Jack, an overweight child, developed a caustic humor to protect himself from the teasing of his peers. He won a scholarship to the University of Delaware but decided to try acting instead and moved to Los Angeles. In Hollywood, he landed a series of odd jobs, from answering fan letters written to MGM cartoon characters Ben and Jerry to fighting fires. He studied acting at the Players Ring Theater and began winning TV parts.

    In 1958, Nicholson appeared in his first film, a low-budget horror flick called The Cry Baby Killer. This was the first of many appearances in horror, biker, and other second-rate genre movies. He married actress Sandra Knight in 1962, but the marriage lasted only five years.

    In 1967, he finally got his break with a small but highly praised part as a lawyer in Easy Rider, and received an Oscar nomination. After Easy Rider, Nicholson began landing better parts, including a role as a talented musician stuck working on an oil rig, in Five Easy Pieces(1970). Five years later, he won an Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which he played an asylum inmate. A string of other accolades followed, including Oscar nominations for Reds (1981), Terms of Endearment (1983), and A Few Good Men (1992). In 1997, Nicholson and co-star Helen Hunt both won Oscars for the quirky comic-drama As Good as It Gets.

    Nicholson, an avid basketball fan, frequently attends Lakers games. Although he never married again, he