Nicolas Cage - Biography

Last Editor: ania_mehdi				Nicolas Cage Biography -   Name : Nicolas Cage Birth Date : January 7, 1964 Birth Place : Long Beach, California, USA Birth Name : Nicholas Kim Coppola Height : 6' 1 Education : Beverly Hills High School American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California (majored in Acting) Nationality : American Profession : Actor, producer Claim to fame : as punk rocker Randy in Valley Girl (1983) Fan Mail : C/O Creative Artist Agency 9830 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212-1825 USA

Nicolas Cage Trivia -

He is half German, half Italian. In the year 2000 he filed divorce papers in February, withdrew them in April. On October 1997, he ranked #40 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. He was engaged to Kristen Zang. Nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire. He got Johnny Depp his first acting job. He is a close friend of Tom Waits, Crispin Glover and Rush drummer Neil Peart. Stage name taken from comic book character Luke Cage. Owns a Lamborghini that used to belong to Prince Ali-Reza Pahlavi, the former Shah of Iran. Brother of Marc Coppola and Christopher Coppola. Grandson of Carmine Coppola. Proposed to Patricia Arquette on the day he met her in the early 1980s. Arquette thought he was a bit 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. 1997: He lived in a fake castle on the outskirts Los Angeles. He wants to import an authentic one from overseas. Loves to improvise, ocassionally to the annoyance of other cast members. Collects comic books and sees them as being today's equivalent of mythology. The Wild at Heart (1990) movie poster lists his name as both "Nicolas Cage" and "Nicholas Cage". Ranked #37 in Premiere's 100 most powerful people in Hollywood in 1998. 1984: Listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1984" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 36. Cousin of Jason Schwartzman. Suffers from vertigo. Tim Burton cast Cage in his doomed Superman project. Cage even did fittings of the costume. On his upper back he has a tattoo of monitor lizard with a top hat. 2001: Announced that he is dating Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of the late Elvis Presley. They later married. Cousin of Robert Schwartzman, who changed his name to Robert Schwartzman-Cage inspired by Nicolas. May 2001: Awarded an Honory Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement. Father August Coppola, formerly a professor at Cal State Long Beach and Dean of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University During an A&E Biography on him, the host explained that Cage was director Sam Raimi's first choice to play Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the movie Spider-Man (2002). Apparently this was before he met Willem Dafoe. Graduated UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. Cousin of Sofia Coppola and Roman Coppola. On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992), he told Jay that he took the name "Cage" from a comic book character named Luke Cage, the "first black superhero." (The REAL first black superhero is a character named "Lobo" of Dell Comics, 1965. Luke Cage appeared in Marvel, 1972.) When asked which of the powers he would prefer to have, he said flight was his desire. Has a son, Weston Coppola-Cage (with actress Christina Fulton), born 26 December, 1990. One of three actors (with Lee Marvin [Cat Ballou (1965)] and Peter Sellers [Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)]) with an Oscar nomination for playing multiple characters in a film (in Adaptation. (2002), he plays two characters, Donald and Charlie). Marvin is the only one who actually won one for a double role. Former cousin, by marriage, of director Spike Jonze. Met his future wife, Alice Kim Cage, at a sushi bar where she was a waitress. She was only 20-years-old at the time they married. Went to the same high school as Angelina Jolie, Michael Klesic, Lenny Kravitz, David Schwimmer, Jonathan Silverman, Gina Gershon, Rhonda Fleming, Jackie Cooper, Rob Reiner, Antonio Sabato Jr., Pauly Shore, Michael Tolkin, Betty White, Corbin Bernsen, Elizabeth Daily, Albert Brooks and Crispin Glover. Ate a real cockroach in the film Vampire's Kiss (1988), it reportedly took three takes. He once said about the experience, "Every muscle in my body didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway." Attended Justin-Siena High School in Napa, CA, during the early '80s. His is (along with his cousin Sofia Coppola) the third generation of Oscar winners in the Coppola family. His uncle, Francis Ford Coppola and his grandfather, Carmine Coppola, are the other two generations. They are the second family to do so, the first family is the Hustons - Anjelica Huston, John Huston and Walter Huston. Nick and his wife, Alice Kim Cage, had a son, Kal-el Coppola Cage, on October 3, 2005 in New York City. Just as Nick was named after a comic book character, "Luke Cage", so he has named his son after the comic book character "Kal-el" (aka Superman). Trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Royce Gracie Referred to as the "Jazz musician of acting" by David Lynch. Former stepfather of Patricia Arquette's son Enzo Former stepfather of Danielle Riley Keough. July 2006: Bought Schloss Neidstein, a mini castle in the Bavarian village of Etzelwang. 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. Was a very close friend of late Johnny Ramone. Big fan of Elvis Presley. He considered "Blue" before settling on "Cage" as his surname. His grandmother originates from Cochem/Mosel, Germany. 2006: He purchased a home on the former property of John Wayne in Newport Beach, CA, for a record-setting $24 million. He said in a Reader's Digest interview that his wife, Alice, is into designing jewelry and has no interest whatsoever in being an actress. He offered the role of Green Goblin/Norman Osborn in Spider-Man (2002). Was originally considered for the role of Brad Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), but after his audition the studio thought his performance was too dark and the role went, instead, to Judge Reinhold. Additionally, Cage was 17 at the time and could not work as many hours as actors over 18. In this film, he is credited under the name Nicolas Coppola for the first and only time. 1999: Was among the guests at the wedding of Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola. Others were George Lucas, Jason Schwartzman, Bo Barrett, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Waits. Auditioned for the role of Joel in Risky Business (1983), but the role eventually went to Tom Cruise. 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. Great-grandson of Francesco Pennino. Owns a home in New Orleans. Devoted Elvis Presley fan that he is, in Wild at Heart (1990) he performed the Elvis classic "Love Me" with uncanny aplomb. Former son-in-law of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley. 2007: Bought Midford Castle (a big house, not a real castle) near Bath, England. Purchase price was in the region of £5 million (about $10 million). In the year 2006, he donated $2 million to Amnesty International for a fund to help child soldiers. He owns homes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and New York City. He owns the rights of the original The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) movie, for which he bought the rights from Ted Turner. He was going to use that as a new movie. Since Cage was busy with other projects, the movie didn't come to any fruition.

Nicolas Cage Detailed Biography -

Nicolas Cage was born on January 7, 1964, to his writer father and dancer mother. Born Nicolas Coppola, Cage changed his name to escape the shadow of his uncle, director Francis Cord Coppola. At 17, he dropped out of Beverly Hills High School to act. He landed a bit part in the teen flick classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and his first lead role came in Valley Girl (1983), in which he played a Hollywood punk in love with a rich girl from the "Valley." Cage then went on to play a war-scarred veteran in Birdy (1984) and then all manner of oddball in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (1987), and Moonstruck (1987). In the latter film, his wacky but poignant portrayal of Cher's one-handed baker lover earned him a Golden Globe nomination and christened him an offbeat heartthrob. Through it all, Cage has tried to keep his personal life low-key, but the thrice-divorced actor's love life has been fodder for both the tabloids and mainstream media; rumor and speculation, for example, have haunted Cage's November 2002 divorce from Lisa Marie Presley after three and a half months of marriage. The early 90s saw Cage broaden his acting range. He played an Elvis-obsessed thug in David Lynch's surrealist Wild at Heart (1990), but he also took on more "serious" work - playing a suicidal alcoholic in the stark Leaving Las Vegas (1995), a role that won him a Best Actor Oscar for his uncannily realistic portrayal. With his credibility established, he starred in the action blockbusters The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), and Face/Off (1997). He also played romantic leads in The Family Man(2000) and Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), returned to action for Gone in 60 Seconds (2001), and tried his hand at producing, most notably Shadow of the Vampire (2001). In Adaptation (2002), the highly anticipated project of Being John Malkovich (1999) director Spike Jonze, Cage worked double-time, playing both Charlie Kaufman, a neurotic screenwriter struggling with life, love, and writer's block, and Charlie's easy-go-lucky twin brother, Donald. Cage no doubt owes part of his success to his legendary work ethic and craft; he goes all out in preparing for roles, from undergoing a tooth extraction without novocaine for Birdy (1984) to learning the mandolin for Captain Corellis Mandolin (2001).