Nicolas Kim Coppola born January 7, , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] known professionally as Nicolas Cage , is an American actor and film producer. Known for his versatility as an actor, his participation in various film genres has gained him a cult following. He was Oscar-nominated for playing twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in the comedy-drama film Adaptation For his contributions to the film industry, he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in He was ranked No.
Nicolas Cage was also voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a readers' poll by Empire magazine. 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 mainly German and Polish descent with some English and Scottish ancestry on her father's side. Cage is the youngest of three sons. He attended Beverly Hills High School , [ 16 ] which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy. 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. 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. Hinton 's novel , but lost to Matt Dillon. In , Cage appeared in three period films, none of which fared well at the box office.
Cage lost weight for the role and had two of his front teeth pulled out to appear disfigured. Cage very sympathetically captures Al's urgency and frustration. Together, these actors work miracles with what might have been unplayable. In , Cage starred in the black comedy Vampire's Kiss as a man who falls in love with a vampire and soon begins to believe himself as a vampire. The film was a major box office flop but has developed a cult following largely due to Cage's surrealistic and over-the-top performance appearing in internet memes.
