# Why did actors stop using stage names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783 "2016-07-24T17:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/1 "2016-07-24T17:29:07Z")
Now it’s rare for them to use a stage name. I guess only rappers do that now. I suppose they figure now nobody will care if their name is Jewish,Polish, etc. I always think Eliza Dushku is a classic example of someone in the past who would have used a stage name. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/2 "2016-07-24T18:06:48Z")
Wasn’t that mostly the old studio system saying “Yeah, we’re not printing playbills with Boxleitner on them.” There’s always been a percentage that wanted a stage name for their own reasons, and they still use them, though most people also know who Nicholas Coppola, Thomas Mapother III, Mark Vincent, and Carlos Estevez are. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/3 "2016-07-24T18:08:35Z")
That’s pretty much it. Stage names were used to make actors seem less ethnic and more mainstream. In Hollywood, having an ethnic name usually doomed you to ethnic parts (OTOH, Boris Karloff was a name that pretty much stereotyped William Pratt into horror roles). That has changed. No one cares, and sometimes an unusual name stands out. As for people who would have had stage names in the past, Renee Zellweger and Arnold Schwartzeneggar would be candidates (Arnold did use “Arnold Strong” in the beginning). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/4 "2016-07-24T18:17:44Z")
Natalie Hershlager might disagree with the claim. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/5 "2016-07-24T18:18:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That’s pretty much it. Stage names were used to make actors seem less ethnic and more mainstream. Not just stage names, either. Lots of immigrants changed their last names to fit in better - sometimes, not entirely by choice. I used to have a friend whose grandfather showed up on Ellis Island with a last name that started with Vo-, followed by some improbable collection of Germanic consonants. The guy processing his paper work changed it to “Vote” and that’s been the family name ever since. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/6 "2016-07-24T18:20:28Z")
Surely someone has done it since Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/7 "2016-07-24T18:30:23Z")
Lea Michele, best known as Rachel on _Glee_, dropped her Sephardic Jewish last name (Sarfati) early in her career as a Broadway actress. Michele is her middle name. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/8 "2016-07-24T18:37:16Z")
The Screen Actors Guild only allows one person for each name, so some have to take an alternate name or use an initial, like Michael J. Fox. Who is actually named Michael Andrew Fox, anyway. Olivia Wilde is actually Olivia Cockburn. This is a really recent one. Jamie Foxx is named Eric Bishop. Pretty recent. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/9 "2016-07-24T18:38:50Z")
Caryn Johnson apparently figured nobody would think she was Jewish even if she adopted Goldberg as a stage name. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/10 "2016-07-24T18:47:40Z")
Of course, almost every Asian actor who tries to make it in international markets takes a stage name. Chan Kong-San, Li Lianji, Lee Jun-fan, Wu Yu-Seng, and Hung Kam-bo all became famous as Jackie, Jet, Bruce, John, and Sammo. Also, Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi just goes by [Alexander Siddig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Siddig) these days. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/11 "2016-07-24T18:56:06Z")
Angelina Jolie is another actress who chose to use her middle name as her professional last name. She later had her name legally changed, I believe due in part to bad feelings towards her father, actor Jon Voight. Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers (_Bend it Like Beckham_, _The Tudors_) also uses a stage name, although I don’t know what his reasons were. He was born Jonathan O’Keefe. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/12 "2016-07-24T23:33:59Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Of course, almost every Asian actor who tries to make it in international markets takes a stage name. Chan Kong-San, Li Lianji, Lee Jun-fan, Wu Yu-Seng, and Hung Kam-bo all became famous as Jackie, Jet, Bruce, John, and Sammo. > > Also, Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi just goes by [Alexander Siddig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Siddig) these days. Even Asian-American actors with otherwise familiar-sounding names change their names. Chloe Wang had trouble getting acting gigs until she changed her name to Chloe Bennet. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/13 "2016-07-24T23:41:52Z")
Some actors changed their names because their real name was already being used. For example, Stewart Granger(The Prisoner of Zenda, North to Alaska) couldn’t use his real name of James Stewart because it was already in use. And some actors were using names other than their own before they really got into the business. According to Charlton Heston’s autobiography he started using the name of Heston while in high school. It was his step father’s name, and he didn’t want the other students asking why he had a different name than the man his mother was married to. Charlton was his mother’s married name. He had a perfectly acceptable birth name, John Carter, but what’s the first thing you think of when you hear _that_? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/14 "2016-07-24T23:48:11Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > The Screen Actors Guild only allows one person for each name, so some have to take an alternate name or use an initial, like Michael J. Fox. Who is actually named Michael Andrew Fox, anyway. IIRC, Michael Keaton goes by “Michael Keaton” because “Michael Douglas” was taken. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/15 "2016-07-25T00:00:04Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > John Carter, but what’s the first thing you think of when you hear _that_? Hot naked Martians? ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/16 "2016-07-25T00:08:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Caryn Johnson apparently figured nobody would think she was Jewish even if she adopted Goldberg as a stage name. You can’t always trust celebrities to tell their true stories, but I heard her explain it thusly: Her mother suggested Goldberg because they did have Jewish ancestors. Mom wanted her to switch from her then-stage name Cushion (pronounced ku-SHON, like the French). ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/17 "2016-07-25T02:00:53Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That’s pretty much it. Stage names were used to make actors seem less ethnic and more mainstream. In Hollywood, having an ethnic name usually doomed you to ethnic parts Which makes José Ferrer even more impressive in my estimation. (Or did Hollywood decide that Frenchmen and Jews looked Puerto Rican? 'cause looking at the filmography that’s a heap of French and Jewish characters) As mentioned, to this day there is still the SAG requirement that the “credits name” be unique. And sometimes you do want to be able to give out a credit card payment online or over the phone with most regular people not noticing. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/18 "2016-07-25T02:23:51Z")
Some names were changed because they sounded too “ethnic” But not all did. And I’m just remembering one actor whose name was distinctive for religious reasons, but he kept it as it was. That was Moroni Olsen. [Moroni Olsen - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0647752/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) Take a wild guess as to his religion!😃 Didn’t seem to handicap him though, thank goodness. I’ve watched a lot of old movies he was in. But, looking at his credits, I hadn’t realized he was the voice of the mirror in Disney’s Snow White. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/19 "2016-07-25T02:26:39Z")
Michael Caine just changed his legal name to that. He said it was a pain at airports because his passport had Maurice Mickelwhite and it confused people. [My name is Michael Caine … actor changes name due to Isis | Michael Caine | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/22/michael-caine-isis-islamic-state-changes-name) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/20 "2016-07-25T02:30:43Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Michael Caine just changed his legal name to that. He said it was a pain at airports because his passport had Maurice Mickelwhite and it confused people. > > [My name is Michael Caine … actor changes name due to Isis | Michael Caine | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/22/michael-caine-isis-islamic-state-changes-name) Stan Lee said he changed his legal name to his pen name when he found out that Stanley Lieber couldn’t get credit. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783.md?page=2)