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Born Nicolas Kim Coppola, the actor known Nicolas Cage famously attended his earliest auditions under that pseudonym, telling Vanity Fair<\/em><\/a> \u201cI wanted to create a kind of wild and artistic and bizarre image,\u201d one separate from his internationally famous uncle, director Francis Ford Coppola<\/a>. The Oscar-winning actor<\/a>, who is currently starring in Amazon Prime<\/a> series Spider Noir<\/em>, finally made that name change official last year, the 62-year-old said in a new interview, after a long life with a double identity.<\/p>\n Speaking with Variety<\/em><\/a>, the newly-minted official Cage said \u201cI am<\/em> Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year. I\u2019m Nick Cage in life, and I\u2019m Nick Cage on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Tis better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the margins of someone else\u2019s,\u201d the self-aware star said<\/a>. \u201cSo I decided I\u2019m going to bring it on and be \u2018Cage.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Though he’s gone by the \u201cCage\u201d last name since his role as Randy in 1983’s Valley Girl<\/em>, the actor was still eager to explain how he chose his last name. \u201c’Cage’ is a name that I liked coming across in the comics \u2014 I just thought [Luke Cage<\/a>] had a cool name \u2014 and I grew up in a very avant-garde, artsy family and there was talk about John Cage<\/a> and the experimental compositions that he did. I was looking for something like \u2018James Dean;’ I was looking for something short and sweet.”<\/p>\n \u201cI thought, well, I\u2019ll keep the name \u2018Nicolas\u2019 because my father named me Nicolas \u2014 with French spelling, which has always frustrated me, because everyone adds an \u2018h,\u2019\u201d Cage said of his father August Coppola, a longtime professor at San Francisco State University. \u201cI don\u2019t know why he gave me the French spelling! But he did.\u201d<\/p>\n The 2025 name change might not be Cage’s last. When told that \u201cNick Cage\u201d sounded more like a superhero than “Nicolas Cage,” the comic book lover paused. You think I should\u2019ve shaved it off and just made it \u2018Nick?\u2019” he asked, before moving on. \u201cI\u2019m both!\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cI think people know me as both.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published in Vanity Fair Italy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n