Education : Beverly Hills High School, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California (majored in Acting)
Profession: Actor, Producer, Director
Professional life:
Nicolas Cage was born Nicholas Kim Coppola on January 7th 1964 in Long Beach, California to dancer Joy Vogelsang and professor of comparative literature August Coppola.
The youngest of three sons Nicolas is the grandson of composer Carmine Coppola, nephew of Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, nephew of actress Talia Shire, and cousin to director Sophia Coppola, actor and director Roman Coppola and actor Jason Schwartzman.
To avoid nepotism Nicolas changed his name from Nicholas Coppola to Nicolas Cage early on in his career.
Comic book fan Nicolas took the name Cage from the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage and composer John Cage.
His debut movie came in 1982 when as Nicholas Coppola he landed a part in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
In 1983 he made the first of three films under the direction of his uncle Francis Ford Coppola - Rumblefish. The Cotton Club (1984) and Peggy Sue Got married (1986) followed.
More roles followed and in between 1992 and1994 Nicolas made what he calls his 'sunshine trilogy': Honeymoon in Vegas, Guarding Tess and It Could Happen to You.
In 1995 Nicolas starred as alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas a role which won him an Academy Award (Oscar) for best actor.
More roles and more awards followed including Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA nominations and his second Academy Award nomination in 2002 for his role as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Adaptation.
The year 2000 saw Nicolas Cage as a producer and in 2002 he direced his first film Sonny where he also had a small role as the character Acid Yellow.
His latest film release National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets topped the US box office making it one of his most popular films in his long and varied career.
Nicolas Cage trivia:
Nic has been married three times.
In April 1995 he married actress Patricia Arquette but they divorced in May 2001.
His second marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie lasted only four months. They were married in August 2002 with the couple separating in December 2002 althought the divorce wasn't finalised until May 2004.
His third and current wife is former Sushi waitress Korean American Alice Kim.
Nic has two children: a twenty two year old son, Weston Coppola Cage, by ex long time girlfriend model and actress Kristina Fulton and seven year old Kal-El Coppola Cage with his current wife Alice Kim.
Nic owns several homes around the world including:
a Bel Air mansion, a house in New Orleans, a house in Middletown, Rhode Island, Schloss Neidstein castle in Germany, Midford castle in Somerset, England, a townhouse in Bath, England, a property on Paradise Island in the Bahamas and an island in the Exuma archipelago in the Bahamas.
Animal lover Nic has owned sevral exotic pets including: a Lemon shark, a Burmese cat named Louis, a Praying Mantis named Gwendolyn, several dogs including a German Shepherd, Dobermann's, a pair of Albino Weimerana's, a parrot and a pair of Cobra snakes named Moby and Sheva.
Nic once ate a live c*ockroach for his role as Peter Loew in the film Vampires Kiss.
