|
|
|
|
. |
|
|
|
| ||||
| Real Name: Nicolas Coppola | ||||
| Birthday: January 7, 1964 | ||||
| Place of Birth: Long Beach, CA | ||||
| Education: American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, CA (acting) | ||||
|
| ||||
|
Nicolas Cage Biography: Worried by cries of preferential treatment early in his career, appealing, young and good-looking star celebrity Nicolas Cage, nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola, led anything but a easy life growing up among the serene suburban coziness of Long Beach, California. His mother's hospitalizations for severe depression kept her away from the family for long periods of time, and his parents' divorce, combined with his young teen boy feelings of being a "nerd" made it easy for him to relate with James Dean's outsider status in 1955's "East of Eden.” Cited as Nicolas Cage for the first time, he focused his frustrations through his first leading character role in "Valley Girl" (1983), his name change encouraged by Luke Cage, the African American comic book hero who suffers from hopelessness and uncertainty. He has always viewed the world as a very bizarre place, and his equally dark vision has influenced his work from the beginning.
Though completely criticized at the time for his choices in Coppola's reflective "Peggy Sue Got Married" with newcomers Jim Carrey and Helen Hunt (1986), they grabbed the attention of Cher who suggested Cage for the role of Ronny in "Moonstruck" (1987) then walked off of the production for two days until the producers hired him. "Moonstruck" was Cage's first officially big box office smash hit, and though some critics objected to his portrayal of the mumbling but truth-seeking baker he patterned after Cocteau's estranged monster from 1946's "Beauty and the Beast,” it was no-doubt classic Nicolas Cage. Cage portrayed his sillier personality in such movies as the Coen brothers' madcap comedy "Raising Arizona" (1987) starring Holly Hunter, and then David Lynch's epic, "Wild at Heart" (1990), where no amount of acting could ever be too much for Lynch's odd-ball universe. Nicolas Cage most likely guaranteed an everlasting cult status for "Vampire's Kiss" (1989) when he ate a live cockroach in a method acting exploit (he had knocked out a tooth for the production of "Birdy"), and though the tabloids joined with the public in ignoring "Amos and Andrew" starring Samuel L. Jackson (1993), it was his madcap charisma that was essential to the success of Andrew Bergman's comedy "Honeymoon in Vegas" along side Sarah Jessica Parker in 1992. Regrettably, Bergman couldn't repeat the recipe for "It Could Happen to You" (1994), regardless of the presence of Nicolas Cage in that cast. Returning to Las Vegas city Mike Figgis' "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), Cage gave an unexpectedly delicate, diverse performance as an alcoholic playwright out to commit suicide. Bringing tenderness and wit to what could have been an heartless role, Cage earned glowing reviews, earning nearly every possible award, including a Best Actor Academy Award.
Following his Oscar win, Cage reinvented himself as an action hero, starring in a trio of chartbuster muscle movies that lifted him to the position of aging icons Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford. "The Rock" (1996) teamed his nerd like FBI biochemist with Sean Connery and Michael Biehn - as the only man ever to have escaped from Alcatraz, to free hostages on the famed island while "Con Air" (1997) harmonized his down-on-his-luck good guy with wacky Federal Marshall John Cusack to thwart the plotting of some of the hardest criminals ever assembled. After playing a psychotic terrorist who gets to change identities with FBI guy John Travolta in John Woo's "Face/Off" (1997), Cage enjoyed a break from action adventure roles in "City of Angels" with Meg Ryan (1998), a love story motivated by Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire" (1988), before taking being cast in Brian De Palma's crime thriller "Snake Eyes" (1998). In 1999, Cage starred in two action thrillers, the dreadful "8mm" directed by Joel Schumacher and the interesting but eventually empty "Bringing Out the Dead" starring Patricia Arquette and directed by Martin Scorsese. The year 2000 saw Nicolas Cage back in touch with his action movie roles, starring in the car theft movie "Gone in 60 Seconds" with Angelina Jolie. While the movie was small on character development and dialog, it was big on fast car chases (Nicolas Cage was a well known automotive devotee in his private life) and was a smash hit at the box office. However, Nicolas Cage's next three films did not do as well, with "Family Man" with Téa Leoni (2000), "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" (2001) with Penelope Cruz and Christian Bale, and then "Windtalkers" (2002) all receiving moderate reviews from audiences and critics.
Cage followed up his "Adaptation" success with an admired role in director Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men" (2003) as a small time con man with lots of pathological troubles who comes alive when he discovers the 14 year old daughter he never knew existed. Then Cage returned to his standard action adventure roles, this time in a more optimistic and interesting style, with the popular Jerry Bruckheimer produced "National Treasure" (2004), this time playing Benjamin Franklin Gates, the descendent of a treasure hunting family who searches for a war chest hidden by the Founding Fathers after the Revolutionary War. Next was his role in "Lord of War" (2005) as Yuri Orlov, a world traveling arms dealer under pressure to stay one step ahead of his enemies, a unyielding Interpol agent, his business rivals, and his scandalous dictator customers, while also dealing with his own principles. Even better was Cage's role of the successful Chicago weather forecaster Dave Spritz who inspires total strangers to throw fast foot at him in director Gore Verbinksi's "The Weather Man" (2005). Playing a thoughtful man wresting with his own weakness and snowed under with a failure to connect with his family members in ways both amusing and tear-jerking, Cage gave one of his most calculated, effective and amazingly low key performances, and won lots of award season nods. Cage then lent his voice talents voicing Zoc, the ant wizard in “The Ant Bully” with Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep (2006), Cage starred as Port Authority officer John McLoughlin in Oliver Stone’s somber and heart-wrenching look at the September 11th terrorist attacks, “World Trade Center” (2006). Along with Police Officer Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), McLoughlin survived for twenty four hours under the wreckage after both towers had collapsed. “World Trade Center” opened to generally constructive reviews, though a few had concern that it was too soon for a film about the dreadful events. Meanwhile, Cage was set to star in “The Wicker Man” (2006), Neil LaBute’s remake of the 1973 British movie about a Scottish police officer who goes to a isolated island to find a missing girl where he finds the local people occupied by bizarre and mysterious rituals.
Cage next appeared in "Ghost Rider" (2007), playing the motorcycle riding devil bounty hunter required by contract to do the Devil’s bidding. Instead of the heavy drinking, heavy metal loving character from the comics, Cage changed into a jelly bean loving eating sober man who loves to listen to the Carpenters, a witness to the actor’s famous oddness. Despite an online upheaval from comic book nerds over leaked footage of the character’s unique flaming skull, “Ghost Rider” did well at the box office and raked in $53 million over the 4 day holiday weekend, surprising given the normal dislike of audiences for post mid February film releases. In addition to his high-profile acting career, Cage regularly made headlines for his romances. After an untraditional marriage to actress Patricia Arquette, Cage had an on-again, off-again relationship with Lisa Marie Presley. When their short marriage ended for good in 2004, the actor astounded many with his marriage to Alice Kim, a former sushi waitress 20 years younger than Cage, just two months after his divorce from Presley was finalized. Next for Nicolas Cage was the gory horror thriller "Grindhouse" (2007), two full length feature horror movies written by Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez put together as a two film feature. Including fake movie trailers in between both movies. Following "Grindhouse", Cage was cast and hired for the fantasy thriller "Next" (2007) with Jessica Biel, about a Las Vegas magician who can see into the future and is pursued by FBI agents seeking to use his abilities to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack. Cage next appeared in the mystery thriller "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (2007) where treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates looks to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary. Cage started off the following year starring in the adventure thriller "Bangkok Dangerous" (2008) about a hitman (Nicolas Cage) who is in Bangkok to pull off a series of jobs falls for a local woman and bonds with his young errand boy. Next was another action adventure film "G-Force' (2009) with Penelope Cruz, about a specially trained squad of guinea pigs who is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world.
More thriller adventure followed with "Knowing" (2009) about a teacher (Cage) who opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school and in it are some chilling predictions. In the can and awaiting release is the dramatic "Electric God" (2009) about a man who lives a life of isolation who finds a solution to his violent temper when he's forced to reach out to others. And fianally is the sports dramatization starring Cage and "50 cent" titled "The Dance" (2010), a dramatization of the life of one-time champion prize fighter Billy "The Kid" Roth, who has volunteered as a boxing coach for over 40 years in the prisons of Louisiana.
Family
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
Cage graduated from
young teenage
anxiety after a strong role in a
small part in his uncle's underrated "Rumble Fish" (1983), making
his first significant dramatic effort as the vulnerable, strong and severely
loyal
friend of Matthew Modine in "Birdy" (1984), Alan Parker's duet for
psychologically scarred Vietnam veterans. 
After becoming better known for his
unusual personal life (such as his four month marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie in 2002),
Nicolas Cage
was prime for a return when he starred as real life screenwriter Charlie
Kaufman and his imaginary twin brother Donald in the reality oddity "Adaptation"
with 
