Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage, born Nicolas Kim Coppola on January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, California, is an American actor whose career has ranged from independent dramas to large-scale action films. He adopted the surname Cage early in his career, drawing it from Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, rather than relying on the recognition attached to the Coppola family name. His father, August Coppola, was a literature professor, and his uncle is filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Cage made an early screen appearance in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), credited as Nicolas Coppola, and worked with Francis Ford Coppola in Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). His breakthrough as a romantic lead came with Moonstruck (1987), in which he played Ronny Cammareri opposite Cher. He later earned the Academy Award for Best Actor for Leaving Las Vegas (1995), directed by Mike Figgis. Cage portrayed Ben Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who travels to Las Vegas intending to drink himself to death and forms a relationship with Sera, played by Elisabeth Shue. His performance also won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He received another Best Actor Oscar nomination for Adaptation (2002), playing both screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin brother Donald in Spike Jonze's film. Cage became a defining action star of the 1990s through The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), and Face/Off (1997). In Face/Off, directed by John Woo, he played terrorist Castor Troy, whose face is surgically exchanged with that of FBI agent Sean Archer, played by John Travolta. His later franchise work includes National Treasure (2004) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), where he played treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates, and Ghost Rider (2007), where he portrayed stunt rider Johnny Blaze. His filmography also contains unusual, director-driven performances. In David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), Cage played Sailor Ripley; the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. He starred in the 1998 supernatural romance City of Angels, the 2002 war film Windtalkers, and the 2005 crime drama Lord of War. In 2021's Pig, he played Robin Feld, a reclusive truffle hunter seeking the people who stole his pig. The role brought renewed critical praise. In The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), he played a fictionalized version of himself opposite Pedro Pascal. In 2023, he appeared as Count Dracula in Renfield and voiced Superman in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for Sony Pictures Animation.