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The frat boys were in for a surprise when sophomore Lorraine Nicholson moved into their house on the Brown University campus. The self-described “supernerd,” and daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard, admits that her initial interaction with her housemates—a circumstance arising from Nicholson’s poor draw in the university housing lottery—consisted of her “waving my fist out my window like a granny, telling them to shut up, and they’re asking me, quite honestly, why I live in a fraternity.” But just as Nicholson’s collegiate living situation eventually found a happy medium, her burgeoning acting career forced her to take a semester sabbatical. Earlier this year, she headed to Hawaii to film Steve McNamara’s Soul Surfer, a film about how pro surfer Bethany Hamilton (played in the movie by AnnaSophia Robb) returned to the water after losing her left arm in a shark attack. Nicholson plays Hamilton’s best friend, Alana Blanchard, which required her to take an on-set crash course in wave riding. “The first lesson is impossible,” Nicholson admits. “You’re wondering how people do this all the time.” Nicholson grew up in L.A. but shied away from typical California beach activities, instead burying her head in books. Whether she returns to Brown next semester depends on whether the 1960s-era road movie Prettyface finally goes into production. If not, Nicholson will no doubt be found in the library. She has a particular fondness for Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead: “It’s amazing and full of sexiness, but also it’s philosophical and extremely smart,” says Nicholson. “The best combination of things.”