Mike Nichols was born on November 6, 1931 in Berlin. His family moved to America when he was seven and five years later, his father died, causing incredible financial issues for his family. Nichols worked very hard in school to fulfill his dream of being accepted at the Universtiy of Chicago. However, in his college years, he quickly grew tired of academic life and small jobs. He dropped out and eventually joined a group of actors in Chicago that formed the Compass, which gave him some wonderful connections is the acting/film world, the most important being Elaine May. Elaine May had a profound affect on Nichols, inspiring him to mock the ordinary and typical, and look towards the unconventional. The two of them became stars in the Satire Boom, poking fun at mainstream American culture, which was something Nichols would later include in many of his movies. By the early 60s, they were finished working with each other, and Nichols began working on his first major film, a theater translation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It was a groundbreaking translation and with stars like Elizabeth Taylor in his first movie, he was quickly put on the map as a wonderful director. This paved the way for his next movie The Graduate, which included some of the most playful and youthful directing ever seen at that time. He wanted to create his own individual path in the directing world, and proved very capable of this with the interesting perspectives in this inventive film. Although he made a name for himself in these early films, the nature of the movies he created took a different twist after The Graduate. As he continued down this path, critics began to lessen their reviews of him, because although his films were always cinematically artistic, they no longer contained great concepts about society.

Nichols' influence in the film world reaches many directors today. Certain scenes, such as the one with the scuba equipment epitomize the way that his novel directing could add to the mood of otherwise simple stories. The director of a movie plays an integral part in giving the film its own unique style, as Nichols did with The Graduate.