Coming from an artistic family, Nicholson started doing theatrical performances at the age of 14 while attending the prestigious Camões Secondary School in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
He then studied drama in Paris at the Charles Dullin Academy, together with French actors such as Jean Vilar, Georges Wilson, and Gérard Philipe.
[1][3] Nicholson became popular amongst the wider public by performing in what is known in Portugal as Teatro de Revista ("Magazine" shows, or Revues), initially as a performer at the Teatro ABC in Lisbon, and then as a co-author of the innovative show Gente Nova em Bikini (New people in bikinis), which as a huge success and was followed by other similarly successful revues.
With the end of censorship after the revolution, the cuts made by the Estado Novo censors were put back and the name was changed to Tudo a Nu com Parra Nova (Everything naked with a new fig leaf).
After the closure of the Ádóque in 1982 he moved to Teatro Maria Vitória, starring in a succession of revues, while also directing and performing in television programmes and, later, writing other soap operas.