Nicolas Cage Reveals He Legally Changed His Name Rather Than Be 'the Clown Cousin' of Coppola Family
Nicolas Cage Reveals He Legally Changed His Name Rather Than Be 'the Clown Cousin' of Coppola Family
Daniel S. LevineThu, May 28, 2026 at 2:41 AM UTC
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Nicolas Cage in December 2023
Credit: Tristan Fewings/Getty
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Nicolas Cage legally changed his name last year, he told Variety
Cage's stage name was inspired by Marvel's Luke Cage and avant-garde artist John Cage
Cage stars in upcoming projects Spider-Noir on MGM+ and Prime Video and Madden, which hits theaters in November
Nicolas Cage has a new legal name — Nicolas Cage.
The Oscar winner, born Nicolas Kim Coppola, adopted his stage name as his legal name last year, he told Variety in an interview published on Wednesday, May 27. Cage, 62, said he would rather be the patriarch of his own family than the “clown cousin” of Hollywood royalty.
“I am Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year,” the Spider-Noir actor told Variety. “I'm Nick Cage in life, and I'm Nick Cage on camera. ‘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.' ”
Cage took his last name from the fictional Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, and said his family also talked about avant-garde artist John Cage. He was also looking for a “short and sweet” name, similar to 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,' ” Cage explained. “I don't know why he gave me the French spelling! But he did.”
The actor also said he doesn't care if people call him “Nick” or “Nicolas.”
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“I'm both! I think people know me as both,” Cage told Variety.
Nicolas Cage (left) with his cousin Sofia Coppola (center) and uncle Francis Ford Coppola (right)
Credit: Jeff Vespa Archive/WireImage
Cage is the son of the late August Coppola, the older brother of Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire. Other famous members of the Coppola family include Francis' daughter, Sofia Coppola, and Shire's son, Jason Schwartzman. August, Francis and Talia's parents were composer Carmine Coppola, who scored many of Francis' films, and Italia Coppola. Cage has been credited as Nicolas Cage his entire career, save for a 1981 TV pilot and the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
While making Fast Times, Cage said people would constantly walk up to him and say things like “'I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning,' ” referring to a famous line in his uncle Francis' film, Apocalypse Now. This notoriety made it hard to work, and Cage had had enough.
“I decided, I don't need this, and I changed it to Cage,” he told 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."
Cage's next project is Spider-Noir, in which Cage plays Ben Reilly/The Spider, a character he voiced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Marvel's Spider-Man: Noir comics inspired the series, which also features Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston and Brendan Gleeson. All eight episodes are available to stream in color and black-and-white on MGM+ and Prime Video.
Cage also stars as the late NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden in the upcoming Madden, which hits theaters on Nov. 26.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
