Famous Actors Who Changed Their Name

John Wayne - Marion Morrison: Billed early in his career as Duke Morrison, he was given the name John Wayne by Fox Studios and director Raoul Walsh. John Wayne didn't participate in the choosing of his famous screen name.

Edward G. Robinson - Emanuel Goldenberg: Born in Romanian and grew up in New York, he changed his name to Edward G. Robinson after becoming interested in acting. The G. stood for Goldenberg.

Cary Grant - Archie Leach: Born in Bristol England to a lower class family, Leach transformed himself into Hollywood movie star Cary Grant. The name was based on the initials C. G., inspired by actors Clark Gable and Gary Cooper.


Veronica Lake - Constance Ockelman: Billed early in her career as Constance Keane (Keane being her step father's name). Film producer Arthur Hornblow re-named her Veronica Lake (because of her blue eyes).

Marilyn Monroe - Norma Jeane Mortenson: Changed her professional name to Marilyn Monroe in 1946 but did not legally change it for another ten years.

Dean Martin - Dino Crocetti: Started out his career calling himself Dino Martini but later changed it to Dean Martin after singing for bandleader Sammy Watkins.

Chevy Chase - Cornelius Chase: Chevy was a nickname given to him by his grandmother. There is also a town in Maryland named Chevy Chase.

Nicolas Cage - Nicolas Coppola: Nicolas was born into a show biz family. His Grandfather was composer Carmen Coppola, his uncle is film director Francis Ford Coppola and his cousin is film director Sofia Coppola. To set himself apart from his famous family, he chose the last name Cage, taken from comic book super hero Luke Cage.

Mr. T - Laurence Tureaud: He created the persona of Mr. T while working as a bouncer. This led to an appearance on TV's Games People Play in a toughest bouncer competition. He was seen by Sylvester Stallone who offered him a part in the movie Rocky III.

Michael Keaton - Michael Douglas: Born with the same name as an established movie star, Michael looked for inspiration from another movie star, Diane Keaton, for a new last name.

Charlie Sheen - Carlos Estevez:  Charlie adopted his father Martin Sheen's screen name. Martin, a Catholic, took the last name from archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.