20 Actors You Never Knew Used a Pseudonym

 

These days it seems that we know everything about celebrities. We know what movies they’re “secretly” filming this very moment; what they just had for lunch; who they asked on a date and who they’re voting for at this year’s elections. But sometimes we miss the very obvious thing: their real names. Some actors have to change it because someone else is already using the same name, some want an easier stage name and some just want to look cooler and start anew. We made a list of 20 actors whose real names you wouldn’t recognize.

Michael Keaton

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Real Name: Michael Douglas

It’s pretty obvious why the ex-Batman/Birdman decided to change his last name. He didn’t want to cause any confusion with Michael Douglas.

Winona Ryder

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Real Name: Winona Horowitz

The Stranger Things’ star was named after the city of Winona. Her family’s original last name was Tomchin, but it was changed to Horowitz after the family moved to the US from Russia. And then the actress changed her last name for Hollywood — long before the Horowitz last name got immortalized through Clueless.

Demi Moore

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Real Name: Demetria Guynes

Demi Moore shortened her beautiful but long name Demetria and borrowed her first husband Freddy Moore’s last name.

Bruce Willis

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Real Name: Walter Bruce Willis

Demi Moore’s ex-husband Bruce also tweaked his real name. Bruce is actually his middle name. It could’ve been way different though: his teenage nickname was Bruno. Bruno Willis? Nah, we like Bruce better.

 

Ashton Kutcher

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Real Name: Christopher Ashton Kutcher

Demi Moore’s other ex-husband is also using his middle name as his professional one. Kutcher’s full name is Christopher Ashton Kutcher, but he shortened it to Ashton Kutcher when he was 19, because there was already another Chris Kutcher at his modeling agency at the time.

 

Blake Lively

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Real Name: Blake Ellender Brown

The story behind Blake Lively’s name is so long it needed its own article. Lively is basically her mother’s ex-husband’s last name, while Brown is the real name of Blake’s father. Her father actually uses Lively as his last name and Blake followed his example when it was time for her to pick a stage name. Yes, we are totally lost, too.

Whoopi Goldberg

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Real Name: Caryn Elaine Johnson

The story behind Whoopi’s stage name is a pretty stinky one. Apparently she was known to gleefully let out a fart or two, so her friends used to compare her to a whoopee cushion.

 

Woody Allen

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Real Name: Allen Konigsberg

It took Allen a while to settle with his name. At the age of 17 he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen and then decided to use Woody Allen as his stage one.

 

Helen Mirren

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Real Name: Ilyena Vasilievna Mironoff

Helen Mirren’s grandfather left Russia during the Revolution and his son, Helen’s father, decided to give the family’s last name an English spin, changing Mironoff to Mirren. Helen is also an Anglicized version of common Russian name Ilyena.

Ben Kingsley

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Real Name: Krishna Bhanji

The British actor was born to a Kenyan father of Gujarati Indian descent and was given an Indian name. He also has British, German and potentially Russian blood. No wonder he decided to pay respects to his family when he was choosing a stage name: Benji was his father’s nickname while his grandfather was called King Cloves, which turned into Kingsley.

 

Portia de Rossi

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Real Name: Amanda Lee Rogers

Yes, we’re shocked just as much as you are. While most celebrities want an easier stage name, Amanda Lee Rogers wanted something, well, complicated. She borrowed Portia from William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice and added De Rossi as something foreign-esque.

 

Joaquin Phoenix

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Real Name: Joaquin Rafael Bottom

Joaquin Phoenix’s parents were involved with a religious group called Children of God several years before the future actor was born, but eventually decided to exit the group and have a new beginning. That’s why they opted to change their last name to Phoenix (a mythical bird that rises from the ashes). Joaquin’s siblings all used nature-related nicknames and his was Leaf — so until Joaquin was 15 he was known in the industry as Leaf Phoenix.

Tina Fey

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Real Name: Elizabeth Samantha Fey

Tina Fey probably had zero trouble getting used to people calling her Liz on set of 30 Rock since it is her real name.

 

Olivia Wilde

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Real Name: Olivia Jane Cockburn

If Olivia Wilde wanted to pursue a career in journalism, she’d be smart to keep her real last name since both her parents are acclaimed journalists. But she was interested in acting since a young age as evident by her last name — she got an idea for a new last name after participating in an Oscar Wilde play back in her teenage years.

 

Natalie Portman

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Real Name: Neta-Lee Herschlag

When picking a catchier last name, Natalie also paid respects to her grandmother — Portman was her maiden name. She also turned her given Hebrew name Neta-Lee into Americanized Natalie.

Julianne Moore

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Real Name: Julie Anne Smith

If Julianne Moore would have it her way, she wouldn’t change her name. But it was the Actors Guild’s insistence — all of the variations of the actresses’ real name were taken by that point. So she joined her fist and middle name and added her father’s middle name into the mix.

 

Louis C.K.

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Real Name: Louis Szekely

Here’s a nice way to make the world say your last name properly: just change the spelling. That’s how the comedian’s real last name Szekely turned into cryptic C.K. Guess it’s not because he’s such a Calvin Klein fan after all.

Emma Stone

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Real Name: Emily Jean Stone

We all knew Emma Stone was cool. Now prepare to get your mind blown — her stage name is a direct homage to Baby Spice, Emma Bunton. As Stone revealed in an interview, she couldn’t use her real name (“My name was taken at the Screen Actors Guild by one of the girls on Australia’s Next Top Model”), so she thought it would be nice to use Baby Spice’s real name. “When I was in second grade I did ask the teacher on the first day of school to call me Emma because I always wanted to be Baby Spice,” she told Jimmy Kimmel. Maybe it’s time for Spice World 2 with Stone as a guest star?

 

Vin Diesel

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Real Name: Mark Sinclair Vincent

You didn’t really think someone could have such a cool real last name (even if he’s fast and furious), did you?! Diesel didn’t change his name for Hollywood — he did it years earlier when he was working on the New York nightlife scene as a bouncer. Apparently he did his job well, which secured him this nickname. Let’s just say we wouldn’t want to get thrown out of the bar by the future star of xXx.

Michael Caine

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Real Name: Maurice Joseph Micklewhite

Back in 2000 actor Michael Caine became Sir Maurice Micklewhite. At the time he commented: “I was named after my father and I was knighted in his name because I love my father. I always kept my real name — I'm a very private and family-orientated person." The media was fired up: should they refer to him as Sir Maurice or Sir Michael? To which the legendary actor asked to be referred to as Sir Michael Caine.

 

Want to see more lists? Check out our Everybody Loves a List! page.

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