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Nicolas Cage

Birthday: Jan 7, 1964

Place of Birth: Long Beach, California

Bio: Actor Nicolas Cage has always strived to make a name for himself based on his work, rather than on his lineage. As the nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Cage altered his last name to avoid accusations of nepotism. (He chose "Cage" both out of admiration for avant-garde musician John Cage and en homage to comic book hero Luke Cage). Even if he had retained the family name, it isn't likely that anyone would consider Cage holding fast to his uncle's coattails. Time and again, Cage travels to great lengths to add verisimilitude to his roles.Born January 7, 1964, in Long Beach, CA, to a literature professor father and dancer/choreographer mother, Cage first caught the acting bug while a student at Beverly Hills High School. After graduation, he debuted on film with a small part in Amy Heckerling's 1982 classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Following a lead role in Martha Coolidge's cult comedy Valley Girl (1983), Cage spent the remainder of the decade playing endearingly bizarre and disreputable men, most notably as Crazy Charlie the Appliance King in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Hi McDonough in Raising Arizona (1987), and Ronny Cammareri in the same year's Moonstruck, the last of which won him a Golden Globe nomination and a legion of female fans, ecstatic over the actor's unconventional romantic appeal.The '90s saw Cage assume a series of diverse roles, ranging from a violent ex-con in David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990) to a sweet-natured private eye in the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) to a dying alcoholic in Mike Figgis' astonishing Leaving Las Vegas (1995). For this last role, Cage won a Best Actor Oscar for his quietly devastating portrayal, and, respectability in hand, gained an official entrance into Hollywood's higher ranks. After winning his Oscar, along with a score of other honors for his performance, Cage switched gears in a way that would prove to be, with the occasional exception, largely permanent. He dove into a series of action movies like the Michael Bay thriller The Rock, the prisoners-on-a-plane movie Con Air, and the infamous John Woo flick Face/Off. Greeted with hefty paychecks and audience approval, Cage forged ahead on a career path lit largely with explosions.There would be exceptions, like 1998's City of Angels, a remake of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, and Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead, and the the lightly dramatic romantic comedy The Family Man, but Cage stuck mostly to thrillers and action movies. A spate of such films would fill his resume, like Gone in 60 Seconds, The Life of David Gale, 8MM, and Snake Eyes, but Cage would briefly revisit his roots in character work, teaming with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze in 2002 for a duel role in the complex comedy Adaptation (2002). With Cage appearing as both screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as well as his fictional brother Donald, Adaptation followed Charlie's attempt to adapt author Susan Orlean's seemingly unfilmable novel The Orchid Thief as a feature film, and Donald's parallel efforts to write his own hacky yet lucrative script by following the guidance of a caustic, Syd Field-like screenwriting instructor (Brian Cox). A weighty role that demanded an actor capable of portraying characters that couldn't differ more emotionally despite their outward appearance, Adaptation brought Cage his second Oscar nomination -- and he was soon back to business as usual.2004 saw the release of the megahit adventure film National Treasure, which cast Cage as an archaeologist convinced there's a treasure map on the back of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The outrageous film would earn a sequel in 2007, but first Cage made the ill-advised decision to star in Neil LaBute's reworking of the Robin Hardy/Anthony Shaffer collaboration The Wicker Man (2006). Though video compilations of the movie's most hilariously hackneyed moments would become popular on the internet, Cage was soon portraying a motorcycle-driving stuntman who sells his soul to Mephistopheles -- in Mark Steven Johnson's live-action comic book adaptation Ghost Rider. Upon premiering in the States, the film became a big success. In the same year's sci-fi thriller Next, directed by Lee Tamahori, Cage plays Cris Johnson, a man who attains the ability to see into the future and must suddenly decide between saving himself and saving the world; the film failed to ignite the way Ghost Rider did just a couple months before it. Next came Bangkok Dangerous, Knowing, The Bad Liutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans, Drive Angry, Seeking Justice, and Trespass -- all high octane, high adrenaline movies that found Cage diving, leaping, and shooting his way through the story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Filmography

Year	Title	Credit
2014	Amicus	Rodney Smolla
2013	Kick-Ass 2	Actor
2013	Frank or Francis	Actor
2013	Joe	Actor
2012	The Croods	Grug
2012	Stolen	Will Montgomery
2012	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance	Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider
2012	Seeking Justice	Will Gerard
2011	Trespass	Kyle
2011	Season of the Witch	Behmen
2011	Drive Angry	Milton
2010	Kick-Ass	Damon Macready/Big Daddy
2010	With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story	Actor
2010	The Sorcerer's Apprentice	Balthazar Blake
2009	G-Force	Speckles
2009	Riot (John Carpenter's Riot) (Scared Straight)	Actor
2009	Knowing	John Koestler
2009	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Terence McDonagh
2009	Astro Boy (AstroBoy)	Dr. Tenma
2008	Bangkok Dangerous	Joe
2007	Ghost Rider	Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider
2007	Next	Cris Johnson
2007	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	Ben Gates
2006	The Wicker Man	Producer
2006	The Ant Bully	Zoc
2006	Amarillo Slim	Actor
2006	World Trade Center	John McLoughlin
2006	Too Tough To Die: A Tribute To Johnny Ramone	Actor
2005	Lord of War	Producer
2005	Land of Destiny	Actor
2005	The Weather Man	Dave Spritz
2004	National Treasure	Benjamin Franklin Gates
2003	The Life of David Gale	Producer
2003	Matchstick Men	Roy Waller
2002	Sonny	Director
2002	Windtalkers	Joe Enders
2002	Adaptation	Charlie Kaufman
2001	Captain Corelli's Mandolin	Capt. Antonio Corelli
2001	Christmas Carol - The Movie	Actor
2000	Gone in 60 Seconds (Gone in Sixty Seconds)	Randall "Memphis" Raines
2000	Shadow of the Vampire	Producer
2000	Welcome to Hollywood	Actor
2000	The Family Man	Jack Campbell
1999	8MM	Tom Welles
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	Frank Pierce
1998	City of Angels	Seth
1998	Snake Eyes	Rick Santoro
1998	Welcome to Hollywood	Actor
1997	Con Air	Cameron Poe
1997	Face/Off	Castor Troy
1996	The Rock	Stanley Goodspeed
1995	Kiss of Death	Little Junior Brown
1995	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
1994	Trapped in Paradise	Bill Firpo
1994	It Could Happen to You	Charlie Lang
1994	Guarding Tess	Doug Chesnic
1993	Deadfall	Eddie
1993	Amos & Andrew	Amos Odell
1993	Red Rock West	Michael
1992	Rabbit Ears - Davy Crockett	Actor
1992	Honeymoon in Vegas	Detective Jack Singer
1991	Zandalee	Johnny Collins
1990	Fire Birds	Jake Preston
1990	Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted	Actor
1990	Wild At Heart	Sailor Ripley
1989	Vampire's Kiss	Peter Loew
1989	Time To Kill	Enrico Silvestri
1988	Never on Tuesday	Man in Red Sports Car (uncredited)
1987	Raising Arizona	H.I. McDonnough
1987	Moonstruck	Ronny Cammareri
1986	Peggy Sue Got Married	Charlie Bodell
1986	The Boy in Blue	Ned Hanlon
1984	Birdy	Al Columbato
1984	Racing With the Moon	Nicky
1984	The Cotton Club	Vincent Dwyer
1983	Valley Girl	Randy
1983	Rumble Fish	Smokey
1982	Fast Times At Ridgemont High	Bit Part