Who is Nicolas Cage?
Nicolas Cage changed his name early in his career to make his own reputation, succeeding brilliantly with a host of classic, quirky roles by the late 1980s.
Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High School (though he dropped out at seventeen), he secured a bit part in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) - most of which was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career, but a job reading lines with actors auditioning for a repertory company landed him a role in Rumble Fish (1983), followed by the romantic lead in Valley Girl (1983), which was released first and truly launched his career.
His one-time passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street-vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (1984).
Overview
- Nicknames
- Nicholas Cage, Nicolas Kim Coppola, Nicolas Coppola
Trivia
- Johnny Depp was his neighbor at the Fontenoy Tower apartments in 1984. At the time Johnny was a guitar player in the band Rock City Angels and was struggling financially. They both lived on the 6th floor. It was only after repeated suggestion and an introduction to Cage's agent that Depp chose to become an actor and quit his band.
- He said he realized that all great movie stars, such as Spencer Tracy, had had recognizable voices, so he has stylized his to be distinctive.
- After his first film role (in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)), he adopted the stage name of Cage, because he wanted to assure himself that any success he had was based on his own merits, not the fame of a relative.
- Once woke up in his house at Orange County in the middle of the night to find a naked man eating a fudgesicle in front of his bed. The man was arrested by police but Cage pressed no charges.
- Stage name taken from comic book character Luke Cage.