Lorraine Nicholson

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title: "Lorraine Nicholson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1990-births", "21st-century-american-actresses", "actresses-from-los-angeles", "american-child-actresses", "american-film-actresses", "american-people-of-english-descent", "american-people-of-german-descent", "american-people-of-italian-descent", "american-people-of-irish-descent", "american-people-of-welsh-descent", "brown-university-alumni", "living-people"] description: "American actress (born 1990)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Nicholson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (born 1990) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Lorraine Nicholson
birth_name	Lorraine Broussard Nicholson
birth_date
birth_place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
alma_mater	Brown University
occupation	Actress
years_active	2003–2016
father	Jack Nicholson
relatives	Ray Nicholson (brother)
mother	Rebecca Broussard
::

| name = Lorraine Nicholson | birth_name = Lorraine Broussard Nicholson | birth_date = | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | alma_mater = Brown University | occupation = Actress | years_active = 2003–2016 | father = Jack Nicholson | relatives = Ray Nicholson (brother) | mother = Rebecca Broussard Lorraine Broussard Nicholson (born April 16, 1990) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Alana Blanchard in the biographical film Soul Surfer (2011).

Early life

Nicholson was born in Los Angeles to actors Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard. She was named after her father's aunt. She has a younger brother, Raymond, as well as two older half-siblings (a half-sister, Jennifer Nicholson and a half-brother, Caleb Goddard) and a younger half-sister Tessa. She was four years old when her parents separated.

Nicholson served as Miss Golden Globe at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

In 2008, she graduated from Brentwood School in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

In May 2012, she graduated from Brown University with a degree in Literary Arts.

Career

Nicholson's first on-screen appearance was as an extra, at the age of 13, in her father's movie Something's Gotta Give. In 2008, she provided the voice of Katie in the animated film Fly Me to the Moon.

After mostly minor roles as a child actor, Nicholson landed her first major role in Soul Surfer, playing Bethany Hamilton's best friend Alana Blanchard, who was there to help her after a shark attack took her left arm. As Blanchard was a competitive surfer, Nicholson had to take a crash course in wave riding.

In a 2011 interview, Nicholson stated, "I love to act and I also hope to one day write and direct and create my own projects. I feel that in the film industry, especially as a woman, it's really important to make your own luck – and create projects to give other people really strong opportunities as well as yourself."

Nicholson starred in Anonymous (2016), playing an expert hacker.

Nicholson wrote, produced, and directed a 15-minute coming-of-age drama titled The Instant Message. She later directed and wrote a short film titled This Magic Moment. In 2017, Nicholson released her third short film, Life Boat, which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. That same year, she was accepted into the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, a mentorship and education program geared towards female filmmaking.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Something's Gotta Give	Young Girl in Market
2004	**	Princess Lorraine
2006	Click	Samantha Newman (at 16 years old)
2008	Fly Me to the Moon	Katie	Voice role
2009	World's Greatest Dad	Heather
2011	Soul Surfer	Alana Blanchard
2012	**	Vanessa
2014	The Pimp and the Rose		Short film
2015	Hacker	Kira Whittal
2015	Endings, Inc.	Nikki Wheaton	Short film
2016	Room 105	Sam	Final role
::

References

References

1. (2 April 1994). "Wolf, Man, Jack". Condé Nast.
2. "Lorraine Nicholson Bio".
3. (2004). "Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board". MTV Pocket.
4. (3 February 2010). "Jack Nicholson's daughter, Lorraine, set to make splash in Bethany Hamilton biopic 'Soul Surfer'".
5. (15 July 2010). "Lorraine Nicholson".
6. "Exclusive Interview: 'Soul Surfer' Star Lorraine Nicholson".
7. Jessica Kiang. (30 November 2016). "Film Review: 'Anonymous'". Variety.
8. "2 Nicholson kids and city-born actress shoot local film". Reading Eagle Company.
9. Saito, Stephen. (April 21, 2017). "Tribeca '17 Interview: Lorraine Nicholson on Letting People in With the Buoyant "Life Boat"". The Moveable Fest.
10. N'Duka, Amanda. (February 7, 2017). "Paul Feig To Mentor AFI Directing Workshop For Women As Participants Set". Deadline.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::