How would you feel if one of Hollywood’s biggest stars wasn’t using their real name?
It might surprise you to learn that Nicolas Cage isn’t his actual name.
Imagining him with a different name seems almost impossible, but like many actors, Cage opted for a name change when he stepped into the industry, and he had a compelling reason for doing so.
The star, originally named Nicolas Kim Coppola, revealed in a 2023 interview with Wired that he faced a lot of irritating comments due to his real name while working on “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” in 1982.
For those familiar with the film industry, the surname Coppola is undoubtedly recognizable.
Cage is the son of August Coppola and Joy Vogelsang, and the nephew of renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who directed classics like “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”
His colleagues had a field day making jokes at his expense.
While on set, people would jest that they ‘love the smell of Nicolas in the morning,’ a nod to “Apocalypse Now.”
“It made it hard to work and I said ‘I don’t need this’,” he recalled.
Therefore, he chose to change his name to Cage, motivated by the Marvel comic character Luke Cage and avant-garde composer John Cage.
His decision was well-received online, with one person calling him a ‘legend’.
Another remarked: “Nicolas Cage changing his name to Nicolas Cage is the most Nicolas Cage thing ever.”
A third chimed in: “As a nerd art major, the fact that he not only knows who John Cage is but named himself after him and Power Man made my stupid little heart so happy.”
And a fourth added: “He refused to ride on the coattails of Francis Ford Coppola and let his talent speak for itself. What a lad.”
In a 2014 interview with The Talks, the “Face/Off” star further discussed his name change: “I had to reinvent myself. I am still legally Nicolas Coppola, but I am Nicolas Cage. I love my family and all of their accomplishments, but as a young actor going into casting offices, I couldn’t get that off of me.”
“I had to focus on the character and the audition, and there was pressure because of my name.”
“As soon as I went into the casting office under a new name and they didn’t know that there was a connection and I got the part, I was like, ‘I can really do this.’”
“I felt liberated. It gave me the freedom to become what I wanted to be in my dreams.”