- Born
- Birth nameNicholas Kim Coppola
- Nickname
- Nic
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California, the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (whose brother is director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang. He is of Italian (father) and Polish and German (mother) descent. 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 uncle Francis's Rumble Fish (1983) landed him a role in that film, 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).
In his early 20s, he dated Jenny Wright for two years and later linked to Uma Thurman. After a relationship of several years with Christina Fulton, a model, they split amicably and share custody of a son, Weston Cage (b. 1990). He also has a son with his ex-wife, Alice Kim Cage.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dan Hartung <dhartung@mcs.com>
- SpousesRiko Shibata(February 16, 2021 - present) (1 child)Erika Koike(March 23, 2019 - May 31, 2019) (divorced)Alice Kim Cage(July 30, 2004 - January 2016) (divorced, 1 child)Lisa Marie Presley(August 10, 2002 - May 24, 2004) (divorced)Patricia Arquette(April 8, 1995 - May 18, 2001) (divorced)
- ChildrenAugust Francesca Coppola Cage
- ParentsJoy Vogelsang
- RelativesFrancis Ford Coppola(Aunt or Uncle)Marc Coppola(Sibling)Carmine Coppola(Grandparent)Roman Coppola(Cousin)Christopher Coppola(Sibling)Robert Schwartzman(Cousin)Sofia Coppola(Cousin)Matthew Shire(Cousin)Gia Coppola(Cousin)Talia Shire(Aunt or Uncle)Jason Schwartzman(Cousin)Gian-Carlo Coppola(Cousin)Francesco Pennino(Great Grandparent)Italia Coppola(Grandparent)Natasha Coppola-Shalom(Niece or Nephew)
- Often plays eccentric wisecracking characters
- Sharp, dark, pointy eyebrows and striking blue eyes
- Deep husky voice
- Heightened or operatic facial expressions, mannerisms and gesticulations
- Unexpected vocalizations
- Proposed to Patricia Arquette on the day he met her in the early 1980s. Arquette thought he was rather strange but played along with his antics by creating a list of things Cage would have to fulfill to win her. When he started to work his way through the list, Arquette got scared and avoided him. They met again many years later and later went on to marry.
- 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 his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola.
- 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.
- 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.
- To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal, to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new.
- There's a fine line between the Method actor and the schizophrenic.
- I am not a demon. I am a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid playing the accordion.
- [about his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley] I'm sad about this, but we shouldn't have been married in the first place.
- Hollywood didn't know if I was an actor or a nut or if I was this crazy character I was playing. I had developed an image of being a little bit unusual, different and wild.
- The Croods (2013) - $1,000,000
- Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012) - $7,500,000
- Trespass (2011) - $7,000,000
- Seeking Justice (2011) - $12,000,000
- Drive Angry (2011) - $6,000,000
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