Born January 7, 1964 in Long Beach, California, Nicolas Kim Coppola, known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is the son of literature professor August Coppola and his wife, dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang. He is the nephew of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola and Oscar-nominated actress Talia Shire.

Inspired to become an actor by watching James Dean in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, he told his famous uncle at 15 that he would show him what acting was all about if he were to cast him in one of his films. His outburst met with dead silence from Coppola.

Making his professional acting debut under his birth name in the 1981 TV movie, Best of Times, he made his first big screen appearance in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but his role was mostly cut from the film. Changing his name to Cage so as not to be accused of treading on his uncle’s name, he played his first lead in 1983’s Valley Girl followed by his uncle’s Rumble Fish for which he had to audition. Stardom quickly followed with such films as Birdy, Peggy Sue Got Married opposite Oscar nominee Kathleen Turner and Moonstruck opposite Oscar winner Cher. He entered into a relationship with actress Christina Fulton in 1988 which produced son Weston Coppola Cage in 1990. Weston, an actor and singer who has been married three times, made Cage a grandfather for the first time in 2014.

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