Nicolas Cage

He dated Christina Fulton in 1988 with whom he had a child, Weston Coppola Cage.

He married his first wife, Patricia Arquette on April 8, 1995 and divorced her in 2001. It is said that he proposed his wife for marriage on the first day he met her, but she agreed for marriage years later.

He married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley on August 10, 2002 and the couple filed for divorce the same year, which was finalized two years later.

Nicolas Kim Coppola was born on January 7, 1964 to August Floyd Coppola, a literature professor and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer, in Long Beach, California. He is of Italian-German-Polish descent and was raised as a staunch Catholic.

The famous film director, Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle and he is the cousin of Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola and Gian-Carlo Coppola. He also has two brothers, Christopher Coppola and Marc Coppola.

He studied at Beverly Hills High School but he was never really interested in academics because he wanted to act from a very young age. Thus, he dropped out of school and joined UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Not wanting to lurk in the shadows of his successful uncle’s name ‘Coppola’, he changed his name from Nicolas Coppola to Nicolas Cage, named after the Marvel Comics superhero, Luke Cage. He made his television debut in 1981.

He made his debut in the big screen with the coming-of-age movie, ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’, in 1982. He appeared in his next film, ‘Valley Girl’, which released the following year.

In 1983, he appeared in his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Rumble Fish’.

He appeared in the 1984 film, ‘Birdy’, for which he reportedly extracted two teeth in order to do justice to his role. From very early on, Cage became known for his passionate acting and his personality. The same year, he appeared in ‘Racing with the Moon’ and starred in the film, ‘The Cotton Club’, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

In 1986, he starred in comedy-drama film opposite Kathleen Turner titled, ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’. This was once again directed by Francis Ford Coppola and the film became a huge-hit at the box office.

He was cast in his first critically-acclaimed movie, ‘Moonstruck’ alongside Cher, in 1987. The same year, he also appeared in the movie, ‘Raising Arizona’.

‘Moonstruck’ released in 1987, was one of his first commercial, hit films. The film won 7 important awards including the Oscars and the Golden Globe Awards. He was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the ‘Best Actor’ category for his performance in the film. The movie became a huge hit and collected a total of $80,640,528 at the box-office.

In ‘Leaving Las Vegas’, he played the role of a miserable alcoholic. He received immense praise and was lauded for his acting skills. He received an Oscar for his performance in the film. The movie collected a total of $32,029,928 at the box-office.

He starred in the hit American-adventure film by Walt Disney, ‘National Treasure’, which released in 2004. The film became a huge box-office success earning over $347.5 million around the world and spawning a sequel, ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’, in which he played the protagonist’s role.