Hollywood nepotism comes with an excellent welcome package and one spectacularly inconvenient side effect: the family scoreboard. Famous surnames can open doors, but they also invite comparisons nobody requested. Ray Nicholson knows that arrangement intimately.

His father, Jack Nicholson, owns three Oscars, decades of iconic performances, and a grin that practically has its own IMDb page. Ray has begun carving his own identity, including an unnerving appearance in Smile 2. Yet learning the craft while measuring himself against a Hollywood legend once made every acting exercise feel like an impossible final exam.

Now he is changing how he measures success.

Speaking to PEOPLE at The Mosquito Bowl premiere during AFI Fest on October 22, Ray Nicholson admitted that comparisons with his father once overwhelmed him.

“It's so hard,” he explained.

While practicing basic Meisner exercises, Ray found himself measuring his earliest acting attempts against Jack's five-decade career and three Academy Awards. His imaginary competition already possessed a trophy cabinet capable of intimidating a small museum.

Now 34, Ray approaches his work differently. He focuses on individual performances, gradual progress, and finding satisfaction in his own development. His famous resemblance certainly refuses to cooperate. Ray's sinister grin in 2024's Smile 2 immediately reminded audiences of Jack's terrifying performance in The Shining.

Even director Parker Finn recognized the resemblance. Genetics had apparently launched its own unauthorized marketing campaign. Thankfully, Jack has provided encouragement. Ray recalled his father praising a performance because the camera repeatedly returned to him, a simple observation that left a lasting impression.

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And his latest assignment takes him far from Hollywood's spotlight, placing him on a football field surrounded by the horrors of war.

Peter Berg's The Mosquito Bowl follows four college football stars who abandon promising athletic careers to enlist in the Marines following Pearl Harbor. Ray portrays Tony Butkovich, alongside Nicholas Galitzine as John McLaughry, Bill Skarsgård as Bob Bauman, and Tom Francis as David Schreiner.

Based on Buzz Bissinger's nonfiction book, the film revisits a remarkable Christmas Eve football game played on Guadalcanal in 1944, as Marines prepared for the invasion of Okinawa. The stakes extend far beyond touchdowns. These young men have traded stadium crowds for military formations, with their futures shadowed by the uncertainty of war.

Following its October 22 AFI Fest premiere, The Mosquito Bowl opens in select theaters on October 30 before arriving on Netflix on November 25.

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What do you think about Ray Nicholson following in his legendary father's footsteps? Let us know in the comments.