Nicolas Cage

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Image:Weather man.jpg Nicolas Cage (born January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor.

Born Nicholas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California to August Coppola, an Italian American writer and professor, and Joy Vogelsang, a dancer of part German descent.[1] In 1974 he got to meet H.B 'Toby' Halicki at the Rosecrans Car Wash while Halicki was filming Gone in 60 Seconds. In 1976, Cage's parents divorced and he moved to Beverly Hills with his father. He is the nephew of both Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire, making him first cousins with directors Sofia Coppola and Roman Coppola, as well as with actor Jason Schwartzmann.

Cage became passionate about acting at an early age, which became so much that he left high school early, got his GED, and went to pursue his career. Cage changed his name early in order to try to make his own way in acting without benefiting from his uncle's reputation. He chose the name Cage after the Marvel comic book hero Luke Cage, Power Man and avant-garde composer John Cage.

He had a small role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) (credited under the Coppola name), most of which ended on the cutting room floor. His next notable roles were in the 1983 movies Rumble Fish and Valley Girl, which was his breakout role.

He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). He has developed a reputation for alternating roles in action movies with more serious character-driven dramas, as well as the occasional dark humor. His most recent appearances were in Lord of War as a charismatic arms dealer and The Weather Man as a depressed celebrity weather man. In 2000 he got to do a remake of Halicki's film with the production of Gone In 60 Seconds.

He has a son, Weston Coppola Cage (born 1990), by model Kristina Fulton. On April 8 1995 he married actress Patricia Arquette, whom he divorced on May 18 2001. On August 10 2002 he married Lisa Marie Presley and filed for divorce less than four months later. They divorced on May 16 2004. He married former waitress Alice Kim on July 30 2004, in a private ceremony in northern California. He has another son (named after DC hero Superman), Kal-el Coppola Cage (born October 3, 2005 in New York City), by Kim.

He was instrumental in helping Johnny Depp's acting career, whom Cage befriended while Depp was still trying to get his foot in the door. Cage arranged for his agent to meet with Depp.

He also is a big fan of comic books, with his favorite character being Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider, a carnival motorcyclist bent on revenge. He has been attached for a movie adaptation for years, and eventually landed the role of Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider's alter ego. The Ghost Rider movie is slated for release in 2007.

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Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2008	The Show of the Man	Danny Kushmaro
2007	Electric God		Announced
	National Treasure 2	Ben Gates	Pre-production
	Next	Cris Johnson	Pre-production
	Ghost Rider	Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider	Post-production
2006	Amarillo Slim	Amarillo Slim Preston	Pre-production
	Ant Bully	Zoc	Filming; voice
	The Wicker Man	Sheriff	Post-production
	World Trade Center	Sgt. John McLoughlin	Filming
2005	The Weather Man	David Spritz
2005	Lord of War	Yuri Orlov	Also producer
2004	National Treasure	Ben Gates
2003	Matchstick Men (film)	Roy Waller
2002	Adaptation.	Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman
	Sonny	Acid Yellow	Also director and producer
	Windtalkers	Sergeant Joe Enders
2001	Christmas Carol: The Movie	Jacob Marley	Voice
	Captain Corelli's Mandolin	Captain Antonio Corell
	Italian Soldiers		Documentary
2000	Welcome to Hollywood		Documentary
	Gone in Sixty Seconds	Randall "Memphis" Raines
	The Family Man	Jack Campbell
1999	Bringing Out the Dead	Frank Pierce
1999	8mm	Tom Welles
1998	Junket Whore		Documentary
	Snake Eyes	Rick Santoro
	City of Angels	Seth
1997	Face/Off	Caster Troy/Sean Archer
	Con Air	Cameron Poe
	Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait		Documentary
1996	The Rock	Dr. Stanley Goodspeed
1995	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
1995	Kiss of Death	Little Junior Brown
1994	Trapped in Paradise	Bill Firpo
	It Could Happen to You	Charlie Lang
	Guarding Tess	Doug Chesnic
	A Century of Cinema		Documentary
1993	Amos & Andrew	Amos Odell
1993	Deadfall	Eddie
1992	Honeymoon in Vegas	Jack Singer
1992	Red Rock West	Michael Williams
1991	Zandalee	Johnny
1990	Wild at Heart	Sailor
	Fire Birds	Jake Preston
	Time to Kill	Enrico Silvestri
1989	Vampire's Kiss	Peter Leow
1988	Never on Tuesday	Man in red sports car	Cameo
1987	Moonstruck	Ronny Cammareri
1987	Raising Arizona	H. I. McDunnough
1986	Peggy Sue Got Married	Charlie Bodell
1986	The Boy in Blue	Ned Hanian
1984	Birdy	Sergeant l Columbato
	The Cotton Club	Vincent Dwyer
	Racing with the Moon	Nicky/Bud
1983	Rumble Fish	Smokey
1983	Valley Girl	Randy
1982	Fast Times at Ridgemont High	Brad's Bud