Jack Nicholson is an actor.
John Joseph `` Jack '' Nicholson ( born April 22 , 1937 ) is an American actor and filmmaker , who has performed for over 60 years . He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment ( 1983 ) . Nicholson is one of three male actors to win three Academy Awards . Nicholson is one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s ; the other is Michael Caine . Other films in which he has starred include the road movie Easy Rider ( 1969 ) , the drama Five Easy Pieces ( 1970 ) , the comedy-drama film The Last Detail ( 1973 ) , the neo-noir mystery film Chinatown ( 1974 ) , the drama The Passenger ( 1975 ) , and the epic film Reds ( 1981 ) .