Ray Nicholson ‘Really Scared’ to Tell Dad Jack He Wanted to Act
Ray Nicholson, 34, told his sister Lorraine he was scared to tell his father, Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, 89, about his acting plans. He said they "can't talk about a lot" but share a love of sports, and that USC taught him his dad isn't "god".
Ray Nicholson, the 34-year-old actor and son of Hollywood star Jack Nicholson, said he was "really scared" to tell his father he wanted to act, in a rare interview about their relationship published in November 2026.
Jack, 89, is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in American cinema. Ray spoke to his older sister, Lorraine Nicholson, and said the two men "can't talk about a lot".
Sports as a shared language
What they do share is sport. "I love sports so much. It's also the language of love that me and dad share," Ray said. "We can't talk about a lot, but we can talk about the f--king Lakers until kingdom come."
Ray once had football career dreams. They ended after a severe staph infection in his arm turned into MRSA, a drug-resistant bacterial infection, and the arm nearly had to be amputated.
"They put a mark on my arm that was like, 'If it gets past here, we're cutting your arm'," he said.
A turn toward acting
Ray was devastated that his shot at football ended so abruptly. He described the injury as a "voice-of-god moment" that pointed him to what he really wanted to do: act.
Telling his father was the hard part. "I was really scared to tell dad," Ray told Lorraine.
He then went to USC, where he said he learned to love everything about filmmaking. "My education really taught me that dad isn't god," he said. "He's not the only thing in this film industry. He's a beautiful part of it, but a very small part."
He did not dismiss his father's approval. "Yes, of course, making dad proud is high on my list, but this is really a way of finding who I am," Ray said. "And I feel that I'm on the right path to that."
From indie sets to Smile 2
Jack's credits include The Shining, Batman and The Departed. Ray is now becoming one of Hollywood's more notable rising character actors.
He was initially reluctant to follow in his father's footsteps. He spent years on independent films and small projects before his breakout role in Smile 2.
In that horror film, Ray played movie star Paul Hudson. His performance featured a sinister grin that was a deliberate homage to his father's iconic role in The Shining.
He has since taken on bolder characters. He played a delusional home intruder opposite Samara Weaving in the dark comedy-thriller Borderline, and an over-the-top villain alongside Jack Quaid in the action movie Novocaine.
His latest role is in The Mosquito Bowl, a period drama about football during World War II, directed by Peter Berg. Ray was so taken with the true story that he wrote Berg a personal letter after auditioning.
