'''Nicolas Cage''' (born '''Nicolas Kim Coppola''' on January 7, 1964 and often called '''Nic Cage''') is an Academy Award-winning American actor, director and producer.
Biography
Early life
Nicolas Cage was born in Long Beach, California (where he spent parts of his youth, along with San Francisco). He is of Italian descent on his father's side and of English and German descent on his mother's.http://back-track.blogspot.com/2006/08/more-castles-for-nic.html His parents are August Floyd Coppola, a comparative literature professor and influential director Francis Ford Coppola's brother, and Joy Vogelsang, a choreographer and dancer, who suffered chronic severe depression. His mother's frequent hospitalization kept her away from the family for long periods of time. Cage's parents eventually divorced.
Cage, who went to the same high school as fellow entertainers Albert Brooks, Angelina Jolie, Lenny Kravitz, Rob Reiner, and David Schwimmer, aspired to act from an early age. His first (non-cinematic) acting experience was in a school production of ''Golden Boy''.
Career
In order to avoid cries of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, Cage changed his name from Nicolas Coppola early in his career. The assumed surname is inspired by Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, a streetwise African-American superhero. Since his feature film debut in ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', in which he had a minute role opposite Sean Penn, Cage has insisted on appearing in a wide range of films, both mainstream and offbeat.
Cage has twice been nominated for an Academy Award and won once, for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in ''Leaving Las Vegas''. His other nomination was for playing real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother Donald in ''Adaptation.'', a quirky comedy written by Kaufman. Both ''Adaptation.'' and ''Leaving Las Vegas'' are examples of offbeat, low-budget films to which Cage has lent his A-list superstar clout. Despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared with his more mainstream, action-filled efforts. In 2005, for example, audiences ignored two offbeat, non-mainstream films he headlined, ''Lord of War'' and ''
The Weather Man''. Despite good reviews for his acting and nationwide releases for both films, neither found a significant audience.
Most of his financial success have come from his forays in the action-adventure genre. In his highest grossing film to date, ''National Treasure'', he played a neurotic historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Other action hits in which Cage has starred include ''The Rock'', in which he played a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in hopes of neutralizing a terrorist threat, and ''World Trade Center'', director
