It’s immediately clear upon meeting Ray Nicholson that he loves making movies. The 33-year-old is doing double duty, promoting films “Borderline” and “Novocaine,” both out last week, and doesn’t really stop smiling when discussing each. “Borderline” was a “one of one experience,” while shooting “Novocaine” was “one of the most fun I’ve ever had filming, for sure.” Despite initial resistance to acting, Nicholson is now following in the footsteps of his dad — that would be Jack Nicholson — and is quickly rising as one of Hollywood’s most in-demand young actors.
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“Borderline,” starring Samara Weaving and Eric Dane, comes from “Cocaine Bear” writer Jimmy Warden and tells the story of an obsessive, sociopathic fan who invades the home of the ’90s pop star who he is convinced he’s meant to marry. Warden and Nicholson met at a Sightglass Coffee to discuss the project, and Warden told Nicholson he was the one for the role.
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“And that was so important for me because it was just the first time that I felt that a filmmaker really trusted me and really wanted me and really was behind me,” Nicholson says. “And from the beginning he was just like, ‘you know what you are doing? Do it. I’m not even going to say anything to you. You just go.’ Having that, it was just such an empowering experience.”
“Novocaine,” starring fellow acting scion Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder, follows a bank worker who can’t feel pain. The project took him to Cape Town for several months of filming during which he, Quaid and Midthunder constantly were trying to reassure one another of their talents.
“We were all young actors, and it was a huge opportunity for all of us, so we were all freaking out every single day being like, ‘oh my god, we’re blowing this,’” he says. “I’m like, ‘Amber, is it OK?’ We’re freaking out. And Jack’s like, ‘it’s fine, it’s fine.’ We were all completely panicking because oh my god, we all really believed in [the movie] and of course there’s that imposter syndrome of, ‘why am I here? It can’t be this good. I can’t be experiencing this.’”
In 2024 Nicholson proved he has horror chops to be reckoned with in “Smile 2”; his casting as Paul Hudson was an homage to his father’s famous “The Shining” character Jack Torrance.
“When you’re doing a horror film, everyone is having a good time because look, it’s long hours, it’s hard, it’s pressure. And you want to be of service to the whole project,” Nicholson says of what draws him to the genre. “I mean, it definitely skews younger for sure, which is always great. And everybody’s just kind of getting their training wheels on, so it’s fun.”
As tends to go with children of famous actors, acting was one of the last things Nicholson wanted to do when he was a kid.
“I grew up a chubby kid that got picked on, so I was like, ‘oh man, I’m kind of embarrassing in this atmosphere.’ And my sister was always the most popular and beautiful and I was the nerd — grim!” he says. “I just wanted to play video games, I just wanted to be invisible when I was younger.”
Only when he had a growth spurt did people start pressuring him to follow in his dad’s footsteps.
“Everyone that was around me was kind of like, ‘oh, you’re his kid, oh my god, you have to be an actor.’ So naturally it was a hundred percent the last thing I wanted to do, ever, ever, ever,” he says. “Also, growing up in that [world] I felt that it kind of deprived me of having a normal family, of having the things that my friends had that I completely envied, and that was always a tough thing, and I was always very resentful of it. I didn’t really understand it. You think being born in it, you would understand it, but I think I actually understood it even less.”
Nicholson had thought he’d go into sports, maybe as an agent, but then had something of an a-ha moment around acting.
“I was like, ‘what am I doing? I want to be an actor. This is what I’ve always wanted to do.’ But I was very afraid of stepping into that. Honestly, I didn’t think I was worthy,” he says.
After graduating from college he started doing improv and committed to acting full time, “and I just haven’t stopped.”
“It’s really been the thing that’s continued to save my life, honestly,” he says. “Just looking at the journey, obviously I could have planned it out better. There’s certainly things that I definitely wish I didn’t have to go through, but in hindsight, it’s like everything works out exactly how it’s supposed to.”