The Oscar-winning actor made it official last year. Nicolas Cage, who was born Nicolas Kim Coppola, is now legally Nicolas Cage. He wants to called Nick Cage in his daily life and on the movie screen.
The 62-year-old star sat down with Variety for a detailed interview published on May 27, 2026. He opened up about why he finally decided to drop his famous family name after more than four decades in Hollywood. Cage is the nephew of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, who made The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now. His aunt is actress Talia Shire, known for playing Adrian in the Rocky movies.
Cage made it clear that he does not want to be seen as just another member of Hollywood’s famous Coppola family. He wants to stand on his own two feet as the head of his own family.
“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.’”
Why Cage Chose His Famous Last Name
The name “Cage” did not come out of nowhere. The actor has explained before that he took inspiration from two very different sources. First, he loved the Marvel comic book character Luke Cage, who first appeared in 1972. Second, his artistic family often talked about John Cage, the famous avant-garde composer who created experimental music.
Cage also wanted something simple. He looked at classic Hollywood stars like James Dean and wanted a name that was short and easy to remember. “Cage” fit that goal perfectly.
The actor kept his first name “Nicolas” because his father gave him that name. But there is one small problem that still annoys him. His father used the French spelling without the letter “h” at the end. Most people add the “h” and call him “Nicholas” by mistake.
“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.”
Cage does not get too worked up about what people call him these days. He told Variety that he accepts both “Nick” and “Nicolas” as his name. “I’m both! I think people know me as both,” he said.
The Early Days and Why He Changed It Back Then
The name change story actually started back in the early 1980s. When Cage first started acting, he used the name Nicolas Coppola. But that caused problems for him right away.
While making the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, people kept walking up to him and quoting his uncle Francis’ movie Apocalypse Now. They would say things like “I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning.” This annoyed him so much that he decided to act fast.
“I decided, I don’t need this, and I changed it to Cage,” he told Wired in 2022.
The name change helped him get different kinds of roles. In the 1980s, casting directors saw the name “Coppola” and thought of serious, high-prestige films. Cage wanted to make weird and wild movies like Valley Girl (1983) and Raising Arizona (1987). Switching to “Cage” let him break free from what people expected from a Coppola family member.
He first appeared as Nicolas Cage in the 1984 film Birdy. That movie showed a very different side of his acting skills. From that point on, he never looked back at his birth name for his work.
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What Nicolas Cage is Working on Now
Cage has several new projects coming out soon. He stars in Spider-Noir, a TV series coming to MGM+ and Prime Video. The show puts him in the role of a 1930s detective who also fights crime as a superhero. Fans of Marvel’s Spider-Man stories have been waiting for this show for a long time.
He also plays the lead role in Madden, a movie about the famous football coach and broadcaster John Madden. That film will hit theaters in November 2026.
There have been rumors about Cage joining True Detective season 5. He told Variety that he has talked with the show’s team, but nothing is official yet. “I haven’t signed on to anything,” Cage said. He also mentioned that he hasn’t “heard about it in quite some time.”
The actor’s career has gone through many changes over the years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). He also became a major action star with movies like The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), and Face/Off (1997). More recently, he has found a new fan base among younger viewers who love his over-the-top performances in movies like Mandy (2018) and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).
Cage has been married five times and has three sons. Weston Cage (born 1990) is also an actor and musician. Kal-El Coppola Cage (born 2014) and August Francesca Coppola Cage (born 2022) complete his family. His 2022 marriage to Riko Shibata is his current relationship.
The Coppola family remains one of the most famous families in movie history. Cage’s cousins include Sofia Coppola, the director of Lost in Translation, and Jason Schwartzman, the actor known for Rushmore and The Grand Budapest Hotel. By making this legal name change, Cage has drawn a clear line between himself and that famous family tree.
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