Robert Pattinson was born on May 13, 1986 in London, England. He enjoys music and is an excellent musician, playing both the guitar and piano. When Robert was 15, he started acting in amateur plays with the Barnes Theatre Company. After, he took screen role like Ring of the Nibelungs (2004) (TV) (Kingdom of Twilight) as Giselher and Vanity Fair (2004) as Rawdy Crawley. In 2003, Robert took on the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

He got his role a week later after meeting Mike Newell in late 2003. He has since been cast as Edward Cullen in the highly-anticipated film, Twilight (2008/I). His music will also be heard in the film. Robert has also completed upcoming roles as Salvador Dali in Little Ashes (2008) and Art in How to Be (2008). Is an excellent musician playing guitar and keyboards. Attended Harrodian private school in London. He has two older sisters, Lizzy and Victoria. Remains close friends with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) co-stars, Stanislav Ianevski and Katie Leung.

Was taught how to scuba dive for his role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). Sports: Has said that darts and pool are more his sport, and that he made up that he liked snowboarding and soccer for his Harry Potter audition. Acting Inspiration: Jack Nicholson. Was ranked #23 on Moviefone’s ‘The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25′(2008). Chosen by the Hollywood Film Festival Award Committee a the recipient of the 2008 New Hollywood Award. Awarded Best Actor 2008 at the Strasbourg Film festival for his performance as Art in the film How To Be. One sister, Lizzy, 25, had a top ten hit with the band Aurora.

The other, Victoria, 27, works in advertising. Most of his earnings from his first acting job - a supporting role in the television film the Ring of the Nibelungs - went on paying his own fees at The Harrodian School in Barnes. He beat 3,000 people to play Edward in the movie ‘Twilight’.

Named as Yahoo’s Top Movie Heart Throb of 2008. Named as Rolling Stone Magazine’s Hottest Actor of 2008 Named by Entertainment Tonight (ET) as their top hunk of 2008. Named as one of the LA Times Breakout Stars of 2008. Named as one of Forbes Breakout Stars of 2008.

His small, but would-have-been-memorable part in Vanity Fair (2004), was cut out in the final production. Awarded Hello Magazine’s Most Attractive Man Award of 2008. Invited an obsessive fan out for dinner when he was having a bad day. source: IMBD.com

Nickname Bobby Milk (childhood, due to his pallor) Height 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)

Mini biography Robert De Niro, who is thought of as one of the greatest actors of his time, was born in New York City in 1943 to two artists. He was trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop. He first gained fame for his role in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), but he gained his reputation as a volatile actor in Mean Streets (1973), which was his first film with director Martin Scorsese.

In 1974 De Niro received an Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in The Godfather: Part II (1974) and received Academy Award nomations for best actor in Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Cape Fear (1991).

He won the best actor award in 1980 for Raging Bull (1980). De Niro currently heads his own production company, Tribeca Film Center, and made his directorial debut in 1993 with A Bronx Tale (1993). IMDb mini-biography by Matt Dicker Source: http://***.imdb.com

Birth name : Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson Height : 5′ 10½” (1.79 m)

Mini biography : Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York, USA as the sixth of eleven children to parents Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Ann Gibson, who was born in Australia and died in December of 1990.

Though born in the US, Mel and his family moved to New South Wales, Australia. After high school, Mel studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, performing at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts alongside future film thespians Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush. After college, Mel had a few stints on stage and starred in a few TV shows.

Eventually, he was chosen to star in Mad Max (1979) and in a movie called Tim (1979), co-starring Piper Laurie. The small budgeted movie Mad Max (1979) made him known worldwide, while Tim (1979) garnered him an award for Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute (equivalent to the Oscar). Later, he went on to star in Gallipoli (1981), which earned him a second award for Best Actor from the AFI. In 1980, he married Robyn Moore, and, as of today, they are still together and have seven children.

In 1984, Mel made his American debut in The Bounty (1984), which co-starred Anthony Hopkins. Then in 1987, Mel starred in what would become his signature series, Lethal Weapon (1987), in which he played Martin Riggs. In 1990, he took on the interesting starring role in Hamlet (1990/I), which garnered him some critical praise. He also made the more endearing Forever Young (1992) and the somewhat disturbing The Man Without a Face (1993). 1995 brought his most famous role as Sir William Wallace in Braveheart (1995), for which he won two Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

From there, he made such box office hits as The Patriot (2000), Ransom (1996), and Payback (1999). Today, Mel remains an international superstar mogul, continuously topping the Hollywood power lists as well as the Most Beautiful and Sexiest lists. His $25 million paycheck for The Patriot (2000) is the latest milestone for actor’s salaries. Source: http://***.imdb.com/name/nm0000154/bio

Born on January 13, 1977 in Canterbury, England, Orlando Bloom’s plans of becoming an actor developed quite early when he realized that the characters on TV and in the movies weren’t real, that they were actors. “Once I realized that I could be Superman or I could be The Hustler or I could be Daniel Day Lewis’s character in The Last Of The Mohicans - I was like, “Man, I can become an actor and be all of those things.” In 1993, he moved to London to improve his career, doing bit parts in TV series like “Casualty”. Orlando spent two years at the National Youth Theatre before getting a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. His first memorable appearance, a cameo in the critically acclaimed movie Wilde in 1997, earned him various film offers, which he all turned down in favor to play theatre. After Wilde, Orlando attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for 3 years. On stage, he appeared in plays like “The Seagull”, “Twelfth Night”, and “Trojan Women”.

Orlando’s first major movie role was in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, playing the ethereal elf Legolas Greenleaf, a role he received only days before graduating drama school in London. Two years later, when The Fellowship of the Ring premiered, audiences were in instant awe of the blonde haired, blue eyed elf with killer cheek bones, who was also handy with a bow and arrow. It didn’t take long for Orlando to become a full fledged teen heartthrob, hailed by magazines as “The next big thing”. In interviews and magazines, fans discovered that off-screen, Orlando was quite different than his movie counterpart. With brown eyes, dark hair, olive skin, and a keen yet quirky fashion sense, he looked right at home on the cover of GQ. Unlike the quiet Legolas, Orlando was full of energy and infectious enthusiasm, charming everyone he worked with, along with the fans. In interviews, he described himself as an adrenaline junky; skydiving, bungee jumping, surfing and snowboarding in his spare time. This live life to it’s fullest concept seems to come partly from a brush with death that Orlando had while in drama school. Falling 3 stories from a friend’s roof terrace, Orlando faced the possibility of never walking again, but was able to walk out of the hospital 12 days later. 

A walking miracle, Orlando seemed to be on the road to mega-stardom. Released shortly after the The Fellowship of the Ring was the gritty war drama, Black Hawk Down, directed by Ridley Scott. Orlando played Private First Class Todd Blackburn, and showed the enthusiasm, excitement and nervousness of an 18 year old soldier new to the world of war in Somalia. Shadowing a real life experience, his character falls from a helicopter and breaks his back. His next role was that of Joe Byrne in Ned Kelly, a historical biopic of the infamous Australian outlaw. Even though the movie had a limited release, the reviews were positive for Orlando’s portrayal of Ned Kelly’s right hand man. Next came the swashbuckling blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which cemented Orlando’s place as the action movie “It Boy”. Playing the dashing yet straight-laced blacksmith, Will Turner, Orlando won even more hearts by showing off his sword fighting skills alongside his idol, Johnny Depp, while romancing the film’s heroine played by Keira Knightley. In 2004 came another period action movie, Troy. Although the role of Paris saw Orlando again using a sword and bow, it was a departure from his past roles. Paris was an anti-hero, young and foolish at times, sacrificing all for love. Also released in 2004, although only limited in Europe, was the indie film The Calcium Kid, a mockumentary comedy about a milkman who becomes a boxer. Orlando was able to show off his comedic skills while playing a modern character, with no weapons or costumes. The indie film Haven also made its debut at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival. Orlando both starred in and co-produced the film. It has yet to be released into theaters.

Orlando’s first starring role in a major production was in Kingdom of Heaven, released in 2005. Although the film was considered a box office disappointment, the reviews of Orlando’s acting were positive. He was able to convey the inner turmoil of a man on a journey of spiritual and self discovery. Orlando’s next starring role will be that of Drew Baylor in Elizabethtown. A modern comedic drama written and directed by Cameron Crowe. A sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest will be released in Summer 2006.

Although Orlando has grown since his premiere in The Lord of the Rings, he still has the same genuine love of life and work. He likes to keep his family and friends out of the limelight, and tries to stay grounded even in the face of mega-stardom. He always has a smile and a hug for his fans, even delaying movie premieres so he can spend more time signing autographs and taking photos. Orlando’s onscreen presence, along with his down to earth attitude and likeability will continue to attract new fans while sustaining the old ones.

http://***.theorlandobloomfiles.com/biography.html

Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where she currently lives with her family. Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox. Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a script supervisor originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia. She attended school until the seventh grade, and then continued her education by correspondence.[3] She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart, and is a guitar player.

In a 2008 interview with Vanity Fair, Kristen confirmed she is dating actor Michael Angarano. She is also very close friends with her Twilight co-stars Robert Pattinson and Nikki Reed. Stewart has expressed a desire to live and work in Australia, saying, “I want to go to Sydney University in Australia. My mom’s from there. Apart from acting, she is also interested in attending college in the near future, saying, “I want to go to college for literature. I want to be a writer. I mean, I love what I do, but it’s not all I want to do—be a professional liar for the rest of my life. Stewart’s acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school’s Christmas show.

Stewart’s first role was a short, nonspeaking part in the Disney Channel TV production The Thirteenth Year. She subsequently appeared in the independent film The Safety of Objects, in which she played the tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother (Patricia Clarkson). Stewart had a major role in the Hollywood film Panic Room, playing the sullen, diabetic daughter of a divorced mother (Jodie Foster). The film received generally positive reviews, and Stewart garnered positive notices for her performance. After Panic Room’s success, Stewart was cast in another thriller, Cold Creek Manor, playing the daughter of Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone’s characters; the film generally failed at the box office.

Her first starring role followed, in the children’s action-comedy Catch That Kid, opposite Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu. Stewart also played the role of Lila in the thriller Undertow. To date, Stewart’s most critically acclaimed role may be in the television film Speak (2004), based on the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Stewart, thirteen at the time of filming, played high school freshman Melinda Sordino, who stops almost all verbal contact after being raped and who deals with enormous amounts of emotional turmoil. Stewart received great praise for playing the character, who had only a few speaking lines, but kept up a dark-witted commentary inside her head throughout the film. In 2005, Stewart appeared in the fantasy-adventure film Zathura, playing the role of Lisa – an irresponsible older sister of two little boys, who turn their house into a spacecraft hurtling uncontrollably in outer space by playing a board game.

The movie received praise by critics, but Stewart’s performance didn’t garner much media attention as it was noted that her character is immobilized during most of the movie. The following year, she played the character Maya in Fierce People, directed by Griffin Dunne. After that film, she received the lead role of Jess Solomon in the supernatural thriller movie The Messengers. In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring Meg Ryan and The O.C. star Adam Brody. The movie, as well as Stewart’s performance, received mixed reviews. That same year, Stewart starred in Sean Penn’s critically acclaimed adaptation film Into the Wild. For her portrayal of Tracy – a teenage singer who has a crush on young adventurer Christopher McCandless – Stewart received generally positive reviews. Salon.com considered her work a “sturdy, sensitive performance”,[17] and the Chicago Tribune noted that she did “vividly well with a sketch of a role.”[18] Meanwhile, Variety magazine’s critic Dennis Harvey commented skeptically, “It’s unclear whether Stewart means to be playing hippie-chick Tracy as vapid, or whether it just comes off that way.

After Into the Wild, Stewart had a cameo appearance in Jumper and also appeared in What Just Happened, which was released in October 2008.[20] She also co-stars in The Cake Eaters and The Yellow Handkerchief, both independent films that have only been screened at film festivals. On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play Isabella “Bella” Swan in the movie Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling vampire/human romance novel of the same name.

Stewart was on the set of Adventureland when director Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which “captivated” the director.[22] She stars alongside Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen, her character’s vampire boyfriend. The film began production in February 2008 and finished filming in May 2008. Twilight was released domestically on November 21, 2008.[23] Stewart will be reprising her role as Bella in the sequel, New Moon, in 2009.

During a radio interview with Big O and Dukes of WJFK 1067, Jason Mewes stated that he is doing a movie called K-11 with Stewart and Nikki Reed, also of Twilight.[24] The film, which is being directed by Stewart’s mother, takes place in a dorm of the Los Angeles County Jail, and will feature both Stewart and Reed as male characters. Stewart was also cast to portray Joan Jett in The Runaways, a rock ‘n’ roll biopic of the titular band from writer-director Floria Sigismondi. Stewart met with Jett over the 2008-2009 New Year to prepare for the role, and hopes to be able to sing in the film.

Keanu Reeves born: 02-09-1964 birth place: Beirut, Lebanon Keanu Reeves is often slated by critics as the worst actor in Hollywood, delivering wooden and expressionless performances, yet he commands one of the highest salaries in the film business, and has worked with many of the finest directors and actors of the day. The offspring of a half-Chinese, half-Hawaiian geologist and an English showgirl, Keanu’s itinerant parents did not stay together long, so Keanu’s childhood took himself, his mother and sisters to Australia, New York and Canada.

His mother Patricia had a series of interesting partners and husbands, with connections to showbiz, and the young Keanu, not one for academia, decided acting was to be his career, and he began to find work in adverts and TV shows. His motion picture debut was in ‘Dream To Believe’ in Canada, but his part in the 1986 TV movie ‘Under the Influence’ got him more notice.

He headed for Hollywood in 1986 with $3,000, an old Volvo and his stepfather Paul Aaron’s address. A few name changes followed as ‘Keanu’ was considered by his manager to be too exotic, but they were short-lived and he reverted to Keanu. A string of movies followed, playing the troubled teen.

His parts grew and then he started attracting the eye of more mainstream directors. ‘Speed’ really made him a household name, perhaps not so much for his acting, but the fact that it grossed nearly $300 million. More films followed, then ‘The Matrix’ in 1999 made him another massive hit, and catapulted Keanu to the highest earning actor bracket, with a salary of $20 million per film.

Despite the fame and wealth, though, Keanu shuns the limelight. He works hard and is always self-deprecating. Still living in Toronto, he prefers to surf, ballroom dance and ride horses. Courtesy of SkyMovies.com Suggested by michael stretton and Carol

Jude Law was born December 29, 1972 in south east London. He started acting with the National Youth Music Theatre at the age of 12 and, at 17, he dropped out of school completely, to star in a Granada daytime TV Soap called “Families” (1990). In 1992, Jude began his stage career.

He starred in many plays throughout London, and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award of “Outstanding Newcomer”. After doing the play “Indiscretions” in London, he moved and did it again on Broadway. This time, he was alongside Kathleen Turner. He then received a Tony Nomination for “Outstanding Supporting Actor”. He was then rewarded the Theatre World Award. After Broadway, Jude started on the big screen, in many independent films.

His first big named movie was Gattaca (1997), with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. He also had a good role in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). Jude’s latest rise to fame has been because of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), in which he plays Matt Damon’s obsession. The film did very well at the box office, and critics loved the acting of Jude.

He is also a partner in the production company “Natural Nylon”. His partners include Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan McGregor and his ex-wife Sadie Frost. With his production company producing and Jude acting, his career seems to be on the rise. Source: http://***.imdb.com/name/nm0000179/bio No Official Site founded.

Johnny Depp, born in Kentucky on June 9th 1963 has followed a bizarre road, consequently landing him as one of today’s top Hollywood actors.  Born John Christopher Depp II, young Depp was originally interested in pursuing a music career. Following a move to Florida, and his parents divorce by age 16, Depp strayed from his peers and siblings and reclused within a life of drugs and alcohol.  Teenage Depp dropped out of school to pursue a career in rock and roll music. Over the next few years, Depp fronted numerous garage bands - the most famous entitled The Kids, opened for Iggy Pop.  Perhaps more importantly, the success of The Kids furnished Depp with a rising sense of popularity and accomplishment - ironically shot down by Iggy Pop himself during a back-stage confrontation.

Determination and hope for stardom inspired the band to relocate to Los Angeles.  Depp married by age 20 to Lori Allison, the band’s make-up artist.  As his band struggled among the competitive West-coast market, Depp (under suggestion from his wife) decided to try acting.  An introduction to Nicolas Cage reluctantly persuaded Depp to audition.  Depp’s first film debut was in Wes Craven’s major motion picture A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984).  Unable to regain momentum, The Kids spilt-up soon after the movie’s release and Depp diverged from his first love, music, to follow a life of acting.  A small role in Platoon (1986) by Oliver Stone followed. Unwilling at first, Fox pursued Depp to star in a new series entitled 21, Jump Street.  Although Depp felt this show “beneath him,” it actually catapulted his success as an actor and turned him into a teenybopper idol.

His next unanimously appraised piece was Edward Scissorhands (1990) - thought by Depp to downplay his unwanted pretty-boy reputation.  The success of this movie established his well known choice for odd and unusual roles - essentially carving a niche for himself as a serious and somewhat dark performer who always surprises audiences with his choice of roles.

His divorce to Lori Allison catalyzed engagements to multiple love interests including Sherilyn Fenn and Jennifer Gray.  His decision to take the role in Edward Scissorhands led to the start of a relationship with his then costar Winona Ryder.  Depp described her as “the one,” despite their break up three years later.

Next came an extraordinary run of movie roles casted for Depp.  Within five years, starting in 1993, Depp starred in an array of movies including: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Benny and Joon, Arizona Dreaming, Nick of Time, and Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man.  It was during this time of stressful success that Depp began to relapse.  Again, an unhappy Depp began using drugs and alcohol to escape from reality.  Stuck in the depths of disillusion, troubled Depp started an on-off relationship with supermodel Kate Moss (1996); almost simultaneously being arrested twice for both trashing his NY hotel room and fighting a member of the paparazzi (1999).  Although his life was in and out of shambles, on screen Depp continued to establish himself as an incredible actor.

In 1998, Depp split with supermodel Kate Moss and started a relationship with French singer Venessa Paradis, relocating to Paris with his two children (Lily-Rose and Jack) in hope to pursue a more normal life.  Ironically, the next role he played was perhaps one of the farthest from normal - casted as Hunter S. Thompson in Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  Work opportunities continued and Depp continued acting, starring in such films as: The Source, The 9th Gate (shot in Paris where he met Paradis), Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, and the Oscar nominated Chocolat; all the while, Depp managed to continue his musical interests by appearing in an array of music videos (including Tom Petty’s “The Great Wide Open”), producing music with his band P, and directing several videos for his wife (2001).

Source: http://***.johnnydepp.com
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He made his (reportedly awful) professional stand-up debut at Yuk-Yuk’s, one of the many local clubs that would serve as his training ground in the years to come. He dropped out of high school, worked on his celebrity impersonations (among them Michael Landon and James Stewart), and in 1979 worked up the nerve to move to Los Angeles.

He finessed his way into a regular gig at The Comedy Store, where he impressed Rodney Dangerfield so much that the veteran comic signed him as an opening act for an entire season. During this period Carrey met and married waitress Melissa Womer, with whom he had a daughter (Jane). The couple would later go through a very messy divorce, freeing Carrey up for a brief second marriage to actress Lauren Holly. Wary of falling into the lounge act lifestyle, Carrey began to look around for other performance outlets. He landed a part as a novice cartoonist in the short-lived sitcom “The Duck Factory” (1984); while the show fell flat, the experience gave Carrey the confidence to pursue acting more vigorously.

He scored the male lead in the ill-received Lauren Hutton vehicle Once Bitten (1985), and a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), before making a modest splash with his appearance as the alien Wiploc in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988). Impressed with Carrey’s lunacy, fellow extraterrestrial Damon Wayans made a call to his brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was in the process of putting together the sketch comedy show “In Living Color” (1990). Carrey joined the cast and quickly made a name for himself with outrageous acts (one of his most popular characters, psychotic Fire Marshall Bill, was attacked by watchdog groups for dispensing ill-advised safety tips). Carrey’s transformation from TV goofball to marquis headliner happened within the course of a single year.

He opened 1994 with a starring turn in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), a film that cashed in on his extremely physical brand of humor (the character’s trademark was talking out his derrière). Next up was the manic superhero movie The Mask (1994), which had audiences wondering just how far Carrey’s features could stretch. Finally, in December, he hit theaters as a loveable dolt in the Farrelly brothers’ Dumb & Dumber (1994) (his first multi-million dollar payday). Now a box-office staple, Carrey brought his manic antics onto the set of Batman Forever (1995), replacing Robin Williams as The Riddler. He also filmed the follow-up to his breakthrough, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and inked a deal with Sony to star in The Cable Guy (1996) (replacing Chris Farley) for a cool $20 million–at the time, that was the biggest up-front sum that had been offered to any comic actor.

The movie turned out to be a disappointment, both critically and financially, but Carrey bounced back the next year with the energetic hit Liar Liar (1997). Worried that his comic shtick would soon wear thin, Carrey decided to change course. In 1998, he traded in the megabucks and silly grins to star in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show (1998). Playing a naive salesman who discovers that his entire life is the subject of a TV show, Carrey demonstrated an uncharacteristic sincerity that took moviegoers by surprise. He won a Golden Globe for the performance, and fans anticipated an Oscar nomination as well–when it didn’t materialize, Carrey lashed out at Academy members for their narrow-minded selection process. Perhaps inspired by the snub, Carrey threw himself into his next role with abandon.

After edging out a handful of other hopefuls (including Edward Norton) to play eccentric funnyman Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon (1999), Carrey disappeared into the role, living as Kaufman — and his blustery alter-ego Tony Clifton — for months (Carrey even owned Kaufman’s bongo drums, which he’d used during his audition for director Milos Forman). His sometimes uncanny impersonation was rewarded with another Golden Globe, but once again the Academy kept quiet. An indignant Carrey next reprised his bankable mania for the Farrelly brothers in Me, Myself & Irene (2000), playing a state trooper whose Jekyll and Hyde personalities both fall in love with the same woman (Renée Zellweger).

Carrey’s real-life persona wound up falling for her too–a few months after the film wrapped, the pair announced they were officially a couple. By then, Carrey had already slipped into a furry green suit to play the stingy antihero of Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). He plans to take a break from the limelight after the holiday flick (as he puts it, “I’m looking forward to getting out of America’s face”). Is there another Carrey reinvention in the works? If so, he’s not talking. Source: http://***.imdb.com/name/nm0000120/bio No Official Site Found

John Joseph “Jack” Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, internationally renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters.

Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award 12 times, and has won three: two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most acting wins by a male actor (three), and second to Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (four). He is also one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade since the 1960s; the other is Michael Caine. He has won seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award. Notable films that he starred in include, in chronological order, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Passenger, The Shining, Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, Something’s Gotta Give, and The Departed.

Nicholson was born in Neptune City, New Jersey, the son of a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson).^[2][3][4] June had married Italian American showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) six months earlier in Elkton, Maryland, on October 16, 1936.^[5] Elkton was a town known for its “quickie” marriages. Furcillo however, was already married, and, although he offered to take care of the child, June’s mother Ethel insisted that she bring up the baby, partly so that June could pursue her dancing career. Although Donald Furcillo claimed to be Nicholson’s father and to have committed bigamy by marrying June, biographer Patrick McGilligan, who wrote Jack’s Life (published in December 1995) asserted that Latvian-born Eddie King (originally Edgar A. Kirschfeld),^[1] June’s manager, may be the father and other^[3] sources have suggested that June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. Nicholson has chosen not to have a DNA test or to pursue the matter. Nicholson’s mother was of Irish, English, and Dutch descent^[6] though he and his family self-identified as Irish.^[7][8]

Nicholson was brought up believing that his grandparents, John Joseph Nicholson (a department store window dresser in Manasquan, New Jersey) and Ethel May Rhoads (a hairdresser, beautician and amateur artist in Manasquan, New Jersey), were his parents. Nicholson only discovered that his “parents” were actually his grandparents and his sister was in fact his mother in 1974, after being informed by a Time Magazine journalist who was doing a feature on him.^[9] By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). Nicholson has stated he does not know who his father is, saying “Only Ethel and June knew and they never told anybody.”^[9]

Nicholson was raised in his mother’s Catholic religion.^[6] 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. A theatre and a drama award at the school are named in his honor.^[10] In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50 year high school reunion accompanied by his aunt Lorraine.^[1]