Nicolas Cage shares he legally changed his name
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, TV And Film
Jen Thomas
Featured Image Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, TV And Film
Hollywood superstar Nicolas Cage has revealed he has officially changed his name.
Did you know that Nic Cage was just a stage name?
Originally born Nicolas Kim Coppola, the actor adopted Nicolas Cage instead to distance himself from the Coppola name due to their involvement in the film industry.
He wanted to stand on his own two feet, and Cage, 62, decided to make the name official last year so did the deed and filed the paperwork.
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The star confirmed the news in an interview with Variety, revealing he wants his family to have his own name and to be the patriarch, rather than be regarded as the 'clown cousin' of the Coppola family.
“I am Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year,” he insisted.
“I'm Nick Cage in life, and I'm Nick Cage on camera."
He added: "‘Tis better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the margins of someone else's, so I decided I'm going to bring it on and be ‘Cage.' ”
He was inspired for the surname by a Marvel Comic book character, Luke Cage, as well as an artist called John Cage, telling Wired in 2022: “It's a combination of Luke Cage from Marvel Comics ... and John Cage, the avant-garde composer. Speaks volumes about what I've been up to ever since."
When making his way in acting, he said the key thing was he wanted a 'short and sweet' name, like Hollywood icon James Dean.
“I thought, well, I'll keep the name ‘Nicolas' because my father named me Nicolas — with French spelling, which has always frustrated me, because everyone adds an ‘h,' ” he said.
“I don't know why he gave me the French spelling! But he did," he mused.
Turns out he also doesn't mind whether you call him Nick or Nicolas, and says either works for him: "I'm both! I think people know me as both."
Cage's father was August Coppola, who was the older brother of Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire.
Francis' daughter, Sofia Coppola, and Shire's son, Jason Schwartzman are both household names.
Not only that, but his grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and Italia Coppola.
Carmine provided the score for many of Francis' films.
Quite the talented family.
Cage said in the early days of his career he would be frustrated when people accused him of riding on the family name, so after only two projects he decided to drop the Coppola element.
“I decided, I don't need this, and I changed it to Cage," he recalled.
He is now starring in Spider-Noir, one of the latest movies in the Spider-Man franchise.