Born Nicolas Cage (Nicholas Kim Coppola) January 7, 1964 in California, in a very intelligent family. His father is a literature professor and writer, and his mother was a choreographer.
Nicolas Cage is a rebel in the acting world, who, it seems, was destined to become a famous actor. After all, the family gave him opportunities, judge for yourself – his aunt was Thalia Shire – twice nominated for an Oscar, and his father’s brother Auguste Coppola – the same legendary Francis Ford Coppola, who gave the world the wonderful trilogy “The Godfather”, which became a cult picture of that time.
The beginning of a career
Nicholas started playing at the age of 14, when he played the main role in the play “The Golden Boy” by Cliff Odets. Even then, the excellent game of still a teenager Nicholas was noted, and a promising future was predicted for him. He was so eager to build a career in cinema that at the age of 17, after graduating from school, he immediately went to Hollywood.
And the first thing Nick decided to do there was to change his last name. He did not want to be selected for the role only because of family ties, and was going to achieve recognition only because of his abilities. And already after his first film, he thought about the name Blue, but still chose the Cage option. Why? He explained this by saying that he really liked the character of Marvel comics, whose name was that, and, by the way, Nick is very passionate about comics all his life – in 2002 he acquired a collection of 400 old editions for a rather large sum – 1.6 million dollars. And in 2007, Cage even created his own comic book series with his son called Voodoo Baby.
The first roles in the series did not bring him great popularity, and he did not pass the castings for the films The Outcasts and Risky Business, but gradually gained experience, for example, in the film Peggy Sue Gets Married, he superbly played the father of a girl who was almost the same age.
To some extent, we can be grateful to Nicolas Cage for the fact that it was he who pushed the unknown boy from the Kids group, Johnny Depp, to go to the movies. Nick met him when he met Lori Ann Alison. Cage was captivated by Depp’s colorfulness, and he had not even thought about an acting career before. Nicholas gave him his agent’s number, and that’s how Johnny Depp began his rise to fame in the film industry.
Cage’s acting activity is gaining momentum
Nicholas, despite his young age, shone in Hollywood. Already in the late 80s, a well-deserved success began to come to him – the film “Raising Arizona” (1987) became a springboard to fame for both the Coen brothers and Cage, whose game was highly appreciated, because not everyone can play a schizophrenic.
In the same year, he starred in the film, which received three Oscars – “In the power of the moon”, but women received more attention there. But Nicholas began to be considered the most promising young actor. He constantly shocked everyone with his unusual character, and the way he speaks. Many still do not know whether he plays in life or not. Cage believes that it is as honest as possible to try to perform as many stunts in the film himself, and in some ways he is really right.
The actor starred in a very large number of films that brought him both fame and unflattering reviews, he developed a reputation as an actor who does not really choose roles. But still, no one will dispute his talent.
One of the successful films for Nick was “Leaving Las Vegas”, for which he received the highest award for an actor – an Oscar for the main role. And although critics say that his game in this film is not very different from the game in other films, this rather indicates that he realizes his talent in full, he just received recognition for this film.
And his film “The Rock” made him a real star, thanks to which they learned about the actor better in Russia. Playing in different films either bad guys, or an angel or even twins, Nicholas only proved how versatile his talent is. A few more successful films with his participation: “No Face”, “Twin Towers”, “Gone in 60 Seconds”.
Actor’s personal life
Cage has a son, Weston, who became a musician, and the actor himself was never married to his mother. Rumor has it that he had affairs with Penelope Cruz and Angelina Jolie, but they were insignificant.
Nicolas was married 3 times. His first marriage to Patricia Arquette was unsuccessful, as they constantly quarreled, but nevertheless lived for 6 years with a stamp in their passport. With Lisa Marie Presley, he completely divorced after 4 months, and believes that it was not necessary to marry her.
And his third wife, Kal-Elem, a former waitress, still lives with him, and they are happily married. They met by chance at a sushi bar. After the marriage, a son appeared, whose name is Kal-El, for which the actor is reproached as the parent of an offspring with a ridiculous name. Well, let him not worry about it.
But not only roles in the movie became famous Cage. The world-famous tax scandal will be mentioned in the press for a long time to come. As you know, the actor is very wasteful, and loves to spend money on expensive things, Rolls-Royces, of which he has countless, and real estate. In 2019, he was sued for tax evasion, as a result he lost some of his houses and took on any job for several years in order to quickly cover all his debts. But he was able to avoid a prison term, because he convinced the court that he did not pay taxes not intentionally, but because of his own inattention, which does not make him a criminal.
Now in the life of Nicolas Cage, everything is getting better, and, apparently, we are waiting for a lot of new projects with his participation.
