Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
In the first few years of his career, he starred in a variety of films such as Valley Girl (1983), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), Moonstruck (1987), Wild at Heart (1990), and It Could Happen to You (1994). During this period, John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36 listed him as one of 12 Promising New Actors of 1984. For his performance in Leaving Las Vegas (1995), he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation (2002).
He subsequently appeared in more mainstream films, including The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), City of Angels (1998), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), The Family Man (2000), Windtalkers (2002), Matchstick Men (2003), the National Treasure film series (2004–2007), Lord of War (2005), The Wicker Man (2006), Ghost Rider (2007), Knowing (2009), and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009). Between the 2010s and the 2020s, he starred in films such as Kick-Ass (2010), Joe (2013), Mandy (2018), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Pig (2021), and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), roles that increased his popularity and solidified his cult following.
Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and The Life of David Gale (2003). He also directed Sonny (2002), for which he was nominated for Grand Special Prize at Deauville Film Festival. He was ranked No. 40 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 2007 and was placed No. 37 in Premiere's 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood in 2008.
Early life and family
Cage was born in Long Beach, California, to August Coppola, a professor of literature, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer. He was raised in a Catholic family. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of German and Polish ancestry. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata. Through his father, he is a nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and of actress Talia Shire, and a cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert and Jason Schwartzman.
Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy. He said he started acting because he "wanted to be James Dean. I saw him in Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden. Nothing affected me—no rock song, no classical music—the way Dean affected me in Eden. It blew my mind. I was like, 'That's what I want to do'."
At age 15, he tried to convince his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, to give him a screen test, telling him "I'll show you acting." His outburst was met with "silence in the car". By this stage of his career, Coppola had already directed Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro. Although early in his career Cage appeared in some of his uncle's films, he changed his name to Nicolas Cage to avoid the appearance of nepotism as Coppola's nephew. His choice of name was inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage and composer John Cage.
