He is the highest-paid actor of all time and the record holder among his male colleagues with three Oscars and twelve nominations. A global star whose career began in the theater and whose life is anything but ordinary. In a strict Catholic family, he grew up believing that his mother was his sister. His grandmother pretended to be his mother in order to protect the family's reputation. It was not until 1974, after a Times Magazine reporter conducted research into his family circumstances, that Nicholson himself learned the truth. The young rebel and class clown has been passionate about acting since his earliest childhood. He plays theater in high school and moves to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to live with his sister and mother, who works there as a dance girl. He keeps his head above water with temporary jobs, and his talent as a draughtsman later lands him a job as an animation artist.